The Love I Live For
by Pattenrond2
Summary: Harry and Hermione have been married for a year and are expecting their first child. Everything is going great until Harry is kidnapped by Deatheaters. There is only one thing that keeps him alive...
1. Prologue: Finding out

Prologue: Finding Out

>   
  
"What...?" he said, mouth hanging open in shock.  
  
"Didn't you hear me, Harry? I said I was pregnant." Hermione said.  
  
"Pregnant...?" Harry said stupidly.  
  
Hermione sighed, it was like talking to a 2 year old.  
  
"Yes. Pregnant. You know, as in 'child', 'baby'... all that." She said.  
  
Harry seemed to recover from his shock because all of a sudden he let out a loud 'whoop' and jumped into the air.  
  
"I take it you're happy then?" she asked sarcastically.  
  
"Of course I'm happy. I'm just shocked." Harry replied, sitting down and holding his head, "I have a head-ache now."  
  
Hermione laughed, "You are such a wimp."  
  
"Come on, we can go to that new store down the street and look at some of the baby stuff." Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and began to pull her away from the café where they had been sitting when Hermione told him.  
  
"Harry, it's way too soon to be looking at that stuff."  
  
"Nah, it's never too soon. Besides, we're not buying, we're just looking." Harry laughed, "We've got to get some red and gold baby things. I'm not going to have a Slytherin in _my_ house."  
  
Hermione laughed as she playfully hit him. He put his arm around her as they set off down the street towards the baby store.  
  
Harry and Hermione had been married for almost a year. The wedding had been a beautiful one, taking place almost immediately after Graduation. Ron was Harry's best man, of course. And Hermione had chosen Ginny as the Maid of Honor. All of their friends had been invited. Draco had been there, who had become their friend after Harry saved his life in their Sixth Year. And surprisingly, even the Dursley's showed up, reluctantly. Harry believed that Snape was behind it, who had become quite friendly towards them during their Seventh Year. It had been the best day for a wedding and everyone had had a lot of fun.  
  
As Hermione and Harry continued on their way, they didn't notice a person hiding in the shadows watching them. If they had, it would have saved them a lot of trouble and heartbreak.  
  
- - - - - -  
  
A/N: This may seem different, and it is, because I changed it. I plan on doing that for most of the chapters. At least the first few. Hopefully, this version is better.


	2. Wormtail's News

Chapter 1: Wormtail's News

A man in a black cloak walked hurriedly down a hallway, looking left and right nervously. He wasn't looking forward to meeting his master, but he had news for his master, and it was his duty to inform him. He approached him and kneeled timidly at his feet.

"Yes, what is it Wormtail?" Voldemort said.

"I have news, sir. The mudblood Granger is expecting a child. Potter's child." Said Wormtail, not making eye contact.

"Wonderful. You will be rewarded Wormtail. You may go now." Voldemort said, with no trace of emotion at this 'wonderful news'. Wormtail nodded before rushing off. Voldemort sat in silence for a long time before he allowed himself a small smile.

Meanwhile:

"So which color, Gold or Red?" Harry asked, holding up two different paint cans. They had already been to two different stores. Harry had had a basket-full of baby clothes and toys and was making his way to the cash register when Hermione had cornered him and made him put it back.

"Harry, you are crazy. I've just told you that I was pregnant, and you are already planning on building a nursery?" Hermione said, shaking her head.

"It's never too early." Harry replied, shrugging.

Hermione smiled evilly and turned to Harry with an innocent look on her face, "Why don't we paint the nursery green?"

Harry turned to her, mouth open.

"You are **not** serious... Are you?" he asked

"Harry, would you be disappointed if our baby was a Slytherin? Would you love him or her less?" Hermione asked sadly.

"Of course not. I'd love our baby even if he or she was a Squib." Replied Harry, turning to hug Hermione.

"Good. Now, let's go home. I'm exhausted." She said.

Harry pouted, "We can't go home yet. We still have furniture and lots of other stuff to look at. You're no fun."

"Well when you are pregnant and tired, you can stay and look at furniture, but right now, it's my turn, and we're going home." Hermione said, ignoring Harry's still-pouting face.

"I still think you're no fun." Said Harry as Hermione grabbed his arm and began to drag him out of the store, attracting the attention of the other customers.

"Good for you." She replied.

- - - -

A Few Weeks Later:

Harry and Hermione were sitting at home, doing nothing like they had for the past few nights. Finally, Hermione turned to Harry.

"Let's go out tonight." She said.

"I can't." he said, not looking up from the newspaper he had been reading.

"Oh, and you say I'm no fun?" Hermione said, eyebrow raised.

He sighed, and set down the paper, "I'd love to go out tonight, but I can't. Ron called me via the Floo Network at work today. He wants me to come to the Burrow tonight. He said that he broke up with his latest girlfriend."

Hermione laughed, "You mean Tanya?"

"No, no, that was last month's girlfriend. He just broke up with Beth." Harry replied, laughing also.

"Oh, oops. Well, when are you leaving?" she asked

Harry glanced at his watch, "Damn, I should have been there half an hour ago. Lost track of time."

He jumped up from the couch where he had been sitting and went over to kiss Hermione.

"I'll be back before you know it. And then maybe we could go out for dinner or something. Alright?" he said.

"Sure. Now go, Ron is waiting." She replied, pointing towards the fireplace.

"Jeez, if I was less trusting, I would think you've got a boyfriend on the side, trying to get rid of me like that." Harry said, chuckling. Then he stopped.

"You haven't, have you?"

"No." She said.

"Are you sure? Do you promise?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I think I'd know. I promise I don't have a boyfriend on the side, now go." Hermione said.

"I'm going, I'm going."

Harry went over to the fireplace and grabbed some Floo Powder before yelling, "The Burrow" and disappearing.

Hermione sat down again and picked up the paper that Harry had been reading.

"Men..." she said.


	3. Unexpected Turns

Chapter 2: Unexpected Turns

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace and into a room that was definitely not in the Burrow. It was dark, and the room smelled like rotting animals. Harry couldn't see very much, but he could tell that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He reached into his pocket to grab his wand, but it wasn't in his pocket.

"Damn. That's what I get for using my wand to make dinner. I forget it on the counter." He said, searching all of his pockets, just incase. It wasn't in any of them.

"This has got to be a trap." Harry said, looking around in the darkness.

"Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?" He called, trying to find someone who could tell him where he was.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, someone is here." A voice replied softly.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Harry shouted.

Harry was turning in all directions, trying to figure out which way the voice had come from, which had sounded like it had come from every direction. A cloaked figure came from one side of the room, and stopped a few feet from Harry.

"Voldemort." Harry said simply.

"Harry Potter. So good of you to join us." Voldemort replied.

"What am I doing here?" Harry said, silently wishing he had his wand.

"You'll find out soon enough. For now, I just want to enjoy this moment. I have finally captured the Famous Harry Potter, and he is helpless and unable to fight me." Voldemort said, now walking slowly in a circle around Harry.

"Who would have thought it would have been this simple to capture 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'? I thought it would have taken a lot more than this, but my advisors assured me that you would fall for the bait and go to help your 'friend-in-need'." Voldemort continued.

"What do you want with me? I'm done with you now, I have a family." Harry said, thinking about Hermione.

"Ah, yes. The little Mudblood and your … child. Yes, we know all about them." Voldemort said, "Don't worry, you don't have the burden of them anymore."

"What? What are you talking about?" Harry said, becoming more and more scared.

"Crabbe, McNair, take him away. Number 513." Voldemort said, tossing one of the masked Death Eaters an old key. The two Death Eaters came up behind Harry and grabbed him, pulling him towards another hallway. Harry struggled as much as he could, but Crabbe and McNair were just too strong for him to take on by himself.

"They'll come find me!" he shouted, "They'll realize I'm gone and start looking for me."

As Harry was dragged away, all he could hear was the sound of McNair and Crabbe's steps, and Voldemort's cruel laughter getting farther and farther away.

At the same time:  
  
Hermione was sitting in the living room, waiting for Harry to return. She had turned on the television, so she wouldn't be bored out of her mind while waiting. It was near midnight now, and Harry had said he would be back in time to go for dinner. Something wasn't right. She went over to the fireplace to call Ron at the Burrow. When she called, Ron was sitting on the couch, reading a book on Quidditch.

"Hey Hermione, what's up?" he said, closing his book and setting it down.

"I was just wondering if I could talk to Harry, he's been gone awhile now and I would like him to come home." She said, looking past Ron to see if Harry was there.

Ron looked confused, "Harry... why would Harry be here?"

"Because you ... you called him. About breaking up with Beth. Right?" Hermione said, starting to look scared.

"No. I haven't even broken up with Beth. Not yet at least." He said.

"Oh God..." said Hermione, "Ron, something is wrong. Harry left over 5 hours ago, to go to your house because you called him about breaking up with Beth."

"Alright, I'll contact the Ministry right away, and then I'll come over." Ron said.

Hermione just nodded, tears starting to form in her brown eyes.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll find him." Ron said, before saying good-bye and leaving to contact the Ministry.


	4. Trapped

Chapter 3: Trapped  
  
**Two Months Later:**  
  
"Ohhhhhhh..."  
  
Harry rolled over onto his side to look out the small window that was his only glimpse of something other than his prisoner cell. Number 407. It was just a small dark room, with hay covering the floor. The walls were made of stone and it was damp. It smelled damp too. He used his hand to shade the small amount of light from his eyes and sat up. He took his pocket knife and scratched another knotch on his make-shift calendar that was the wall. Harry had been here for two long months, and he didn't know how much longer he was going to be here. He wondered what Hermione was doing now, if she missed him, if they were looking for him.  
  
A loud, metallic clang brought him out of this daydream and he looked up in surprise. The flap on his door opened and a plate followed by a goblet came through. He had been surprised at how well he was treated. It wasn't like it was a palace that he was staying at, but he was eating more than bread and water. He had spent most of the last two months trying to figure out where he was, but with no success. All he could see out of the little window was miles and miles of grass. He didn't even see any trees or bodies of water. When he had first arrived, he had gone through the few possessions he had. He had gone through his coat pockets and found only his wallet, which had only held some money, identification and a few pictures.  
  
"I wonder what they want from me." He said as he reached up to scratch his face. He had grown a short beard from not shaving the past two months. He was angry with himself for not bringing his wand. If he had, he wouldn't be in this situation.  
  
"Why didn't I bring my wand with me?" He yelled, frustrated.  
  
"I don't know, but I'm glad you didn't. That would have made it much harder for us to capture you. Thanks." Said an unidentified, yet familiar voice.  
  
"Malfoy. What are you doing here?" said Harry.  
  
"Oh, I just came to see how you were doing, Mr. Potter. I trust that your room is to your liking?" Malfoy laughed.  
  
"You should be the one in here, not me." Harry replied, becoming angrier by the second.  
  
"You may see it that way, but you are the one in prison, and I intend to see that it stays that way. I may have to use threats to make you see this my way. You married that mudblood Granger, did you not?" Malfoy said  
  
Harry got closer to the metal door. He couldn't see Malfoy, but he could hear him shifting around.  
  
"Don't you even think about touching a hair on her head." He said through his teeth.  
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Potter," he spat, "over the years I've become quite high in the ranks of the Death Eaters. It wouldn't be me that would harm her, it would someone of a lower rank, with nothing better to do than to try and please me or the Dark Lord."  
  
"Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this." Harry said, becoming desperate.  
  
"She may not be important, but she is a key part of this." Malfoy said, "She may be the thing that convinces you to go along with us. If you don't, she will die."  
  
"I can't believe that such a good person has you as a father. Draco is so much better than you will ever be." Harry said.  
  
"Good thing for me that I don't need to be a good person in order to succeed in life." Lucius said casually.  
  
"Yeah, if you call succeeding in life torturing people and making their lives hell." Replied Harry.  
  
"I'll be back for you, when I need you. Until then, I suggest you rest up, Mr. Potter." Said Lucius, completely ignoring Harry's last comment. He walked away and Harry sat down against the damp walls of his cell.  
  
"What did I do to deserve this?' he thought, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.  
  
- - - - - -  
  
A/N: Chapter 3 is now revised. I'm happier with these new versions, but they still have to be improved. Review please ( If you've read the original, review and tell me if these new versions are better or worse. Thanx 


	5. The Dying Hope

Chapter 4: Dying Hope

**3 Months Later:**

Waiting was the worst part. 5 months he had been here and the entire time, all he had done was wait. It was absolute torture, just sitting in the dark, trying to think of something to do to pass the time. Worrying about Hermione, and all his friends. Today, though, Harry was waiting for a smaller amount of time. Earlier in the day, a Death Eater had come to tell him that the Dark Lord wanted to see him. He was impatiently waiting for the return of the Death Eater who would bring him to see Voldemort. He was pacing back and forth, covering the entire area of his small cell. Maybe this would be the day that the Dark Lord would tell him when he could go home. And he would be able to see Hermione. He missed her so much. And if Voldemort wasn't going to free him… what was this meeting about then?

The sound of footsteps brought Harry out of his daydream. Then he heard the familiar clang of the jail cell door opening and he backed away from the door cautiously.

"The Dark Lord will see you now." Said the same Death Eater that saw him before. There was something about this Death Eater's voice that Harry thought was odd. He sounded almost sympathetic. The Death Eater grabbed Harry's arm and lead him out of the cell.

He led him down a number of narrow hallways before going down a set of winding stairs. At the end of the stairs, there was a door, and the Death Eater knocked once before opening the door. The room was extremely dark and smelled like rotten wood. The Death Eater motioned to a chair, turned away from them. Harry approached the chair slowly, and didn't realize when the Death Eater left the room.

"Mr. Potter. I am so delighted to see that you make it." Voldemort said in his cruel voice.

"Well what else have I got to do?" Harry said casually

Voldemort narrowed his eyes. After all these years, Harry was the only one (not including Dumbledore) who regarded him with no fear and a bit of sarcasm.

"Am I going to be able to leave. I have a family now, I'm not useful to you." Said Harry, trying to find a way to make Voldemort let him leave.

"Not useful? Oh, I think you are. And you are not leaving any time soon." Replied Voldemort.

Harry's heart sank. He really wanted to get out of here, and although he didn't think Voldemort was going to let him out, he still had had some hope. Until now.

"What are you going to do to me?" Harry said, trying to keep control over his emotions.

"You'll find out. But for now, I'm going to have you under 24/7 supervision." Voldemort said, looking behind Harry and nodding at a Death Eater that Harry hadn't realized had appeared just as suddenly as he had disappeared..

The Death Eater came up behind him and grabbed his arm, pulling him from the room. Harry stayed silent, trying to figure out something to do as he was being led down the same narrow hallways that had brought him to Voldemort.

"No! I don't want to go back to that stupid cell!" he yelled, knowing it wasn't going to help him.

"Don't you fret," the Death Eater said in a calm voice, "You're not going there. I have more suitable accommodations for you."

Harry didn't say anything, but he looked at the Death Eater out of the corner of his eye. This Death Eater wasn't like the others. Most of them were nervous looking, always looking around as if some unknown assailant was about to attack. They usually had some unusual scars, most likely a result of not battle, but Voldemort. This one seemed more relaxed, except for the look of extreme determination upon his face. Harry could feel that something was different about this one. He didn't know what, but something.


	6. The End is Near

The Love I Live For - Chapter 7 - The End is Near

Harry was being led down a long corridor, with many twists and turns. He was numb, he couldn't think. He looked around. The floors were a type of stone, cracked and chipped over time, with a thin layer of dust and dirt on them. The walls were just as dirty, except for the occasional portrait, which were being kept surprisingly clean. With the torches on the walls, he could barely see the people in the portrait's faces. They seemed noble, and had similar features.

Harry had been walking blindly while the masked Death Eater marched unceremoniously behind him. After awhile, the masked man put a hand on Harry's shoulder, stopping him. They had stopped in front of a wooden door that look as dirty, if not dirtier, as the walls and floor. The Death Eater who had not grabbed him reached out a grungy hand and rapped on the door once before turning the big brass handle. The Death Eater did not wait to see what would happen to Harry, but instead, nudged him into the room, closing the door behind him. Harry, who had accidentally fallen to the ground, unsteadily pushed himself up again, surveying the room.

It was a nice room, not at all like the outside of it. There was a four poster bed, much like the one he had held at Hogwarts, with red trimmings. A huge fireplace stood on his right, with two red armchairs in front of it.

"This is too weird," He said aloud. There was a knock on the door, "Er. Come in?" He said in a confused manner. The door was slowly pushed open and what looked like the same man as before, only this time unmasked, came in. 

"My Lord," he trembled, bowing, "I have waited such a long time to serve you." He bowed again.  
Harry, who's mouth had dropped open in surprise and disbelief, quickly became aware that this Death Eater was waiting for him to say something.

"Er.. Thanks." Harry said, "Who - who are you anyway?"  
The Death Eater looked like he would pass out in fright, he reminded Harry of Dobby, only in a Death Eater- y type of way.

"Sorry, Sir! I must have forgotten in all my excitement. My name is Ewan, sir," Trembled the Death Eater.

"Hello Ewan. Could you possibly tell me what I am doing here?" Harry asked.  
Ewan looked around nervously before nodding.

"You are to learn here. This is to be your home." Explained Ewan.

"My home?" Harry said in disbelief, "How can this be? Voldemort told me that I was going to die."  
Ewan shuddered when Harry said Voldemort's name.

"I do not know sir, all I know is that you are to stay here, and that I am to serve you, ever faithfully." He bowed once more, "The Dark Lord doesn't permit the lower ranks to know his plans. We only follow orders, and I must follow my orders, sir."

"Well, uh... this is a shock." Muttered Harry.

"What can I do for you sir?" asked Ewan after a long pause.

"You don't need to serve me." Harry replied.

"But sir, I must. If the Dark Lord finds out, he would ki-"

"Then serve me like this: I do not need a servant. You can leave." Said Harry tensely.

"Yes sir, if that is what my Lord wants, then I must follow it." Ewan bowed once again and backed out of the room, exactly like all the other Death Eaters that Harry had seen. The door closed as Ewan pulled it behind him and Harry was alone once again. He stood in thought for a little while.

'My Lord?' thought Harry, 'How am I his Lord?'

He looked around the room and finally sat down in the armchair. He looked into the fire, becoming more and more tired, until he fell asleep.

In his dream, he was back at his home, with Hermione. They were laughing and having a good time. He could see Hermione's smiling face. He felt peaceful, and for one brief moment, he thought he was back at home with her. He turned over in the chair, still asleep.

"Hermione." he whispered to absolutely no one. He continued dreaming. His vision blurred and next he was seeing a different scene. He wasn't in this one, although he could still see. Hermione was there again, though. She was sitting in a rocking chair, rocking slowly back and forth, and she was clearly pregnant.

"Harry." she sighed, looking off into the distance. She paused before closing her eyes, and continuing to rock back and forth.

"Hermione!" yelled the dream Harry, but Hermione did not move, except for the constant rock of the chair.  
Harry woke with a start, sweating and breathing heavily. He looked around, thinking that he was going to see someone, or something.

"Who's there!" he whispered, he paused, "Who's there?"  
Ewan stepped out of the corner of the room.

"Just fixing the fire, my Lord." He said, wavering slightly. " I only thought that you might want some warmth for the night. It is supposed to be colder tonight and this castle does not keep heat well."  
Harry's ears perked up.

"Castle?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yes my Lord, the Castle."

"What - what castle?" he asked, maintaining casualty.

"Why, Hogwart's Castle, my Lord." Replied Ewan, trembling.

Harry almost fell out of his chair. "Hogwarts! We're at Hogwarts?"

"Yes my Lord. The Dark Lord took it over around the same time that he took you. He said that the conquests went hand in hand."

Harry looked around wildly. "And what of - what of the students. and .. and Dumbledore?"

"I know nothing of this, sir. I only know what I am told, and that is not something that the Dark Lord will tell me." Ewan explained. Harry thought for awhile, leaving Ewan standing where he was by the fire, shaking slightly.

"I have an errand for you, Ewan." Said Harry with a slight smile.

"Yes, my Lord. What can I do to serve you?" asked Ewan, bowing.

"I need you to find out some information about a person."

"What person, my Lord?" Asked Ewan.

"A person by the name of Hermione Potter, maiden name, Granger." Said Harry in a quiet voice.

"Yes my Lord. I shall find out this information right way, My Lord."

"You can go now, Ewan." Said Harry, gazing into the fire. Ewan walked out of the room, bowing repeatedly. Harry continued gazing into the fire, thinking about his dream. Was Hermione alive? Was the baby alive? And if they weren't, what was he ever going to do without them.


	7. The True World

The Love I Live For - Chapter 8 - The True World

Hermione sat in a chair next to Remus Lupin, not saying a word, with her arms folded over her stomach. She was staring at the ground, in an almost dead way. There was no sound, except for the usual screams. Remus had a blank look on his face, one of extraordinary sadness. He reached out and touched her arm.

"They'll find him. Don't worry." He said quietly. Hermione remained silent. It had been 6 months since she had seen Harry, and she was slowly losing hope.

"How can you say that?" she said in a hoarse voice, " 'Don't worry'? I'll always worry," she chuckled softly, " I'd be worrying about him even if I knew where he was."

Remus paused, thinking about what to say next, without hurting her feelings.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Hermione." He said after his pause. Hermione said nothing, so he got up, and left the room. Hermione continued staring at the floor, not blinking. There were screams coming from outside. Finally, Hermione stood up, walked across the room, and grabbed a knapsack before walking out of the room, also. She began walking down the hallway, and stopped at a door. She knocked twice.

"Come in."

Hermione opened the door and walked in. Ginny Weasley was sitting at a desk, frantically gathering materials from the drawers and room around her. She looked up with an upset face.

"Come on, Ginny. It's getting worse outside and Ron wanted to meet us at 4:30 to leave and it's already," she checked her watch, " 4:08. You don't have time to take everything with you." Said Hermione in an exasperated choice.

"I know, but I don't know if we're coming back here, so I don't want to leave anything." Explained Ginny  
Hermione sighed and crossed the room. She slowly kneeled down next to Ginny.

"We'll come back. I know we will." She closed her eyes, "I just don't want to leave. What - what if Harry comes back here?"

"Hermione -" Ginny began

"No, don't say it. I don't want to hear it." Hermione stood up and picked up her bag again, "Come on Ginny, let's go."

Hermione walked to the door and put her hand on the doorframe, waiting for Ginny to follow. Ginny gathered a few final things, put them in her own bag and followed Hermione out the door. They walked together in silence for awhile, before stopping at another door and entering. There were a group of people standing there, all carrying bags and knapsacks. Hermione and Ginny crossed the room. Albus Dumbledore was sitting at a desk, ignoring the chaos all around him. He had a long piece of parchment on the desk and he was reading it. When Hermione and Ginny reached him, he looked up and made two check marks on the parchment.

"I see you've made it here all right." Said Dumbledore, facing the parchment again, "Have everything?"

"Yes. Have you seen Ron and Draco?" asked Ginny

"I saw your husband and Mr. Weasley a few minutes ago. They were going to make sure that no others were left in the houses, and that everything was accounted for." Replied Dumbledore.

"Okay, thank you." Ginny gave a nervous smile.

"Are we leaving soon?" asked Hermione, apprehensively. She look around, pausing to look out the window, "They sound like they are getting closer."

"We will leave as soon as Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley return." Said Dumbledore quietly. Hermione and Ginny nodded. They turned and faced the small crowd. There were many people that they knew, mostly from school. They saw, and waved to Lavender Brown, who was now Lavender Finnigan, (She had married Seamus). Hermione saw Remus Lupin, and she glared at him for a moment before continuing to see who was there. They also saw Neville, who was standing very nervously with his parents. He had each by an arm, making sure that they stayed together. There were also countless others, all waiting for Ron and Draco to return. They stood there for what seemed like hours, mostly in silence, except for the screams, and whooshing sounds. Finally the door creaked open, everyone held their breath, because they were afraid that it was going to be someone they did not want. They didn't have to fear, it was Ron and Draco, right on time. They were leading three people. A mother, father, and a small child. The child looked frightened, and Draco ushered them in. He cleared his throat.

"That's the last of them, Dumbledore." He said.

"You're sure of it?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir," replied Ron, "We checked every last house. We looked through the remains of the other houses, too. Just in case there were some." he looked around " survivors."

"And?"

Ron and Draco both turned their eyes towards the ground; Ron took off the cap he had been wearing. Draco finally spoke.

"There were no survivors, sir." He said in a croaky voice. He looked up at Ginny and walked across the room. He gathered her in a big hug.

"It'll be alright." Ginny whispered.

"So much death." he said, "and so much destruction. I only wish there was something I could do to stop it. I feel like I'm responsible for this all."

"Draco." Ginny said sternly, " You are not your father," she grasped him firmly by the shoulders, "You are not responsible for things your father has done."

" I know. But I feel like I am."

Draco and Ginny continued talking for awhile. Hermione stood a few feet away, watching them with tears in her eyes. She stood with her arms folded, leaning against the wall, just watching them. Ron came over, saw where she was staring and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You can't do that." He said, quietly. She looked up.

"I can't do what?"

"You can't be jealous of them, Hermione. No matter where Harry is, I know that he still loves you, and he's doing everything in his power to get back to you." He said, glancing between her and Draco and Ginny.

"Thanks, Ron." She said, hugging him. "That means a lot to me."

"Of course," he said over another scream from outside, "what are friends for."

He gave her one last hug and walked away. He started talking to Dumbledore and Hermione resumed staring at Draco and Ginny. She felt happy for her best friend, but she wished that Harry was there, so she felt jealous. Finally, Dumbledore stood up, cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Attention! Attention everyone! We are going to leave now. I have arranged two portkeys to take us to the safe places. Now, if everyone would please gather round. One finger will do."

He passed one portkey to Draco and held onto the other one himself. Everyone gathered around both portkeys, putting at least one finger on them. Dumbledore counted down.

"3. 2. 1."

Hermione felt the familiar tug below her naval and they all disappeared.

- - - - - -

Harry sat in his favorite red arm chair, staring into the fire. He  
was tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair. He  
sighed, looking frustrated.

"Ewan!" he called, "Come here, please."

There came the sound of quick footsteps in the hallway, the door  
opened, and Ewan stepped in.

"Yes, my Lord?" he said timidly, "What can I do to serve you?"

Harry sighed, "First of all, I am not your Lord, as I continue  
to tell you." Ewan looked towards the floor, "And second, you don't  
need to serve me, as I also continue to tell you. I just need a  
favor."

"Y-yes, my Lord? What shall I do?" replied Ewan, shakily

"I need to find out when I'm going to get out of here." Harry  
said, looking around, "You see. my wife.. I don't know if she is alive  
or dead, but. if she is alive." Harry took a deep breath, "She is  
pregnant, Ewan. And her due date is coming. I want to be there for  
her."

Ewan looked around nervously, wringing his hands, "Yes, I know,  
Sir."

"Then you can do something?" said Harry excitedly.

"N-no, sir. I'm afraid not. You are to stay here." Explained  
Ewan.

"For how long?"

Ewan did not answer, but continued wringing his hands and  
looking around nervously. He was shifting around uneasily.

"Well?" prompted Harry

"Forever, sir." Said Ewan finally, "You are to stay here.  
forever."


	8. A Ray of Hope

Hermione and the others fell to the ground with a thump; they had arrived at their destination. They got up, groaning and dusting themselves off. Hermione stood up to get a good look at where they were. It looked like a castle. It was dark, somewhat dirty, and had stone floors and walls. Everyone else was looking around, too. Ron came over.

"Are you all right?" he asked

"Yeah, of course." She said, chuckling slightly, "Where are we, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Ron, "Dumbledore won't tell me. He doesn't think it would be safe. He just said that it was somewhere that I'd been before. Damn Dumbledore, and his riddles."

Hermione laughed, still very curious as to where they were. Ron looked around at the people still recovering from their trip.

"I'd better go help." He said, running his hand through his hair. He gave Hermione a reassuring smile and walked away. He began helping people up, and making sure they were alright. Hermione, however, headed towards Dumbledore. When she found him, he was going through his list again, making check marks next to people's names one last time. He looked up and saw Hermione.

"Ahh, Hermione. Another name to check off," He said, and he made another mark next to Hermione's name.

"Can I ask you a question, Professor?" she asked quietly. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Hermione, you have already graduated, there is no need for you to call me 'Professor'," he looked back down to the paper, "It makes me sound so… old. Call me Albus"

Hermione sighed, "Fine then. Can I ask you a question, Albus?"

Dumbledore nodded, but did not say anything.

"Where are we, anyway?" she asked, looking around at the walls and ceiling with curiosity.

"My dear, I am afraid that I cannot tell you that." Replied Dumbledore, still looking at the parchment, and occasionally looking up to double check that someone had made it.

"Can't you give me any clues? Or anything!" asked Hermione.

"I shall give you one clue, but other than that you are on your own." Said Dumbledore, looking at her, "But I know what a clever one you are, so I am sure you will figure it out.

"Just don't tell anyone else once you get it." He whispered, "We are in a place that you have been in before."

Hermione sighed, throwing her hands in the air, "That's what you told Ron! That doesn't help me any!"

"Then I see it was a mistake to give Mr. Weasley a clue to where we are, even though I should have guessed that he would tell you." He laughed, "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Hermione sighed, frustrated and walked away. Dumbledore watched her walk away, chuckled, and turned back to the parchment.

Hermione sat down on the dirty floor, with her back against the wall. She had her hand to her chin; she was thinking. She spoke aloud, but to herself.

"It's a place that I've been before. Well I've been in plenty of places before. He never said if it was a Wizarding place, anyway. But he also said that Ron had been here, and Ron wouldn't go to a muggle place." She said aloud.

"Why wouldn't I go to a muggle place?" said a voice.

Hermione looked up to see Ron looking at her with a confused look on his face. Hermoine laughed, "It's nothing against you, it's the truth. You grew up in a wizard family, you wouldn't just randomly go to a muggle area."

Ron sat down next to her, "What are you trying to do anyway?"

"I'm trying to figure out where we are, using the one clue that Pro- I mean, Albus gave me." She replied, still deep in thought.

Ron nodded, "You are never going to figure it out you know," he said finally, "I know that you were Head Girl and that you graduated first in our class, but really, this is Dumbledore we're dealing with. He's not going to just give you the answer."

"He said that I could probably figure it out." Said Hermione, folding her arms. Ron laughed and patted her arm.

"I'm sure you will, Hermione." He said, with a touch of sarcasm. Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron pushed himself up off the wall and walked away. Hermione continued muttering to herself, thinking. She finally sighed and gave up for now, but she continued sitting against the wall. Albus finished checking off his list, stood up and cleared his throat.

"Alright, alright, We've all made it here fine, so we're going to settle down now. You all remember your numbers, I presume?" several people nodded, and Dumbledore continued, "Okay then, good. I would like numbers 1 through 22 to go to my right," he gestured to a doorway on his right, "and I would like numbers 23 through 51 to go to my left."

People began to stand up and gather their belongings. Hermione stood up, clutching her bag, and walked to Dumbledore's right, through the doorway. They finally reached the end of a hallway and entered into a small room. Along the wall were doors, and above each door were numbers. Hermione followed along the wall until she found the door with her number.

"Hmm, numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17," she said aloud, to no one specifically, "Well that's me. I'm number 14."  
She picked up her bag once again, and entered the door. She immediatley saw two sets of bunkbeds, one against each wall. The next thing she saw was a woman with long green hair, sitting on the top bunk on her left. The woman wiggled her fingers at her and smiled. Hermione looked at her for a moment before yelling,  
"Tonks!"

Nymphadora Tonks leapt down from the bunk to embrace Hermione. She was laughing as they hugged.  
"I'm glad to see you, too, Hermione." Tonks said, "But I think . I think you are suffocating me."  
"Oops, sorry," said Hermione, letting go of Tonks, "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be out with the other Aurors?"

"Yeah, I should," replied Tonks, "I'm only staying here for a little while."

"Oh, well I'm glad you're here. Do you know who else is in here?" asked Hermione

"No, I don't. They'll probably be here soon though." Tonks said. She was now filing her nails, which were long and lime green, to match her hair, "Hurry up and take the bunk below me, before some stinky old man comes and takes it."

Hermione laughed, but said, "That's not very nice Tonks, what if that 'stinky old man' turns out to be Dumbledore?"

"Dumbledore?" asked Tonks, "Yeah right, Dumbledore probably has his own castle to stay in, let alone a tiny old room with bunk beds."

Hermione nodded in agreement and sat her stuff down on the bottom bunk. She pulled open the drawstrings and began to pull out some of her belongings. She paused when came across a picture in a frame. It was a picture of Harry, smiling. It was a moving photo, and every now and then, Harry would look off to his right to look at someone, presumably, Hermione. He looked very dashing in this picture and Hermione remember begging him to let her keep it. There was a sharp intake of breath and it took Hermione a moment to realize it was her own. She began to sob uncontrollably and clutched the picture to her chest. Tonks hopped down from the top bunk again.

"Whatsa matter?" she asked. Hermione didn't answer, but continued sobbing and holding the picture. She was shaking very hard. Tonks, unsure of what to do, gently took the picture away from Hermione, and looked at it. Her expression changed from confusion to sympathy. She sat down on the bunk next to Hermione.

"Oh Hermione." she said, hugging her, "It'll be okay."

"H-h-how can y-you say that?" said Hermione through her sobs, "I d- don't even know if h-h-he's alive!"

Tonks looked like she was fighting an inner battle. She bit her lip and took a deep breath.

"Listen, Hermione.." said Tonks, slowly, "There's something that I found out. a few days ago. Dumbledore told me not to tell you, but I think I have to."

Hermione looked up at Tonks, with fear in her eyes, still sobbing.

"Hermione..." began Tonks, "They think they know where Harry is."

Hermione immediately stopped sobbing, "Well.. Well, where is he? Is he alive? How come no one has gotten him yet? Why didn't anyone tell me this! When can we go find him? Right now! Let's go right now."

Tonks grabbed her arm, and with the most serious face Hermione had ever seen her use, she said, " Hermione. Our intelligence tells us that Harry is under guard."

Hermione still looked confused, "Well what's the problem? Why don't we just go in and defeat the guard. We do have magic, or have you forgotten?"

"Hermione, we think he's under guard, and we think that V-Voldemort is his guard. We have no way to get in there to confirm this information, or even to rescue him."

Hermione's bottom lip began to quiver, but she kept herself from crying long enough to ask, "Well, where is he being held?"

"We think that he's being held in Hogwarts." Replied Tonks.

Hermione nodded, before breaking into sobs again, and Hermione just sat there, hugging Tonks.


	9. Confusion

The Love I Live For - Chapter 10 - Confusion

Harry was pacing around his luxurious room. Ewan had told him that Voldemort wanted to see him today. And Harry had a few questions to ask him. He had been with Voldemort for a little over 6 months and he wanted to know when he could leave. Sure, Ewan had said that he was going to stay here forever, but... could you really rely on him? There was a knock on his door and Harry stopped pacing.

"Come in." he said, preparing himself to be met by Death Eaters.

The door opened and three Death Eaters walked in.

"We are here to escort you to the Dark Lord." Said one of the masked Death Eaters.

"I know." Replied Harry, in a bored voice.

The three Death Eaters looked at one another, and if their faces hadn't been masked, Harry would have seen the look of utter confusion on each one's face.

"Um, yeah." Said another Death Eater

"Well, are we going to go? Or not," said Harry in the same bored voice, "I'm sure 'your master' wouldn't want us to be late."

The Death Eaters moved out of the way so that Harry could pass. Harry walked slowly ahead of them for awhile before one of the Death Eaters hit him.

"Move faster." Hissed the Death Eater.

" Okay okay!" replied Harry, "That's a nice way to treat someone you consider to be a Lord?"

"You? A Lord?" the Death Eaters laughed, "You aren't fit to clean the mud off of The Dark Lord's boots.

"Not that he has any mud on them," said the other Death Eater quickly.

Harry shook his head, and muttered something about crazy Death Eaters. He quickened his pace, looking behind him, confused, at the three Death Eaters.

"What's with you guys anyway?" asked Harry, after a long time walking in silence, "I mean, one minute, you come in and call me your Lord, and then the next, your hitting me and pushing me down the hallway."

"No Death Eater would ever call you their Lord." Said one of the Death Eaters, "That would be a disgrace to our name."

Now Harry was really confused, but still had time to laugh – in his head, of course- about the fact that Death Eaters were worried about disgracing their name, when their very essence and way of life was about disgrace.

"But wait a second. Ewan… he calls me his Lord all the time." Said Harry, more to himself than to the Death Eaters.

"Who is this Ewan you are speaking of?" asked a Death Eater in a gruff voice. Harry stopped right in his tracks, one of the Death Eaters bumped into him.

"Ewan… you know, my 'servant'. Ewan!" said Harry, waving his arms around. The Death Eaters laughed.

"You? Have a servant?" laughed a Death Eater. He turned to the others, "Wow, this guy really is nuts. First he thinks he's a Lord, and now he thinks he has a servant. What a whacko."

The Death Eaters continued to laugh about this for a few moments before they remembered that Harry was there, and that they needed to get him to Voldemort. They stopped abruptly and pushed Harry forward.

"Go down that way," the Death Eater pointed down a corridor on Harry's right, "There is a door. Go through it, don't bother knocking."

"Um… alright then." Replied Harry with a confused and disbelieving look on his face. He gave one last confused look at the masked Death Eaters before turning down the corridor. He walked the length of it, glancing up at it's dirty stone walls. He stopped at the door, and, following the Death Eater's directions went straight through without knocking. He saw a familiar sight, an armchair facing a big fireplace. Harry rolled his eyes.

"You would think you would go for your own 'villain image'," Harry said to the back of the chair, "Or are you just too lazy?"

"You'd think that you would watch your mouth, seems how I control every aspect of your life." Hissed a voice from behind the chair.

"Just tell me, when are you going to let me out." Asked Harry, trying to hide the curiosity in his voice.

"That is for me to know, and for you to never find out." Replied the cold, harsh, voice.

"Will you tell me what I'm doing here?"

"You are here to begin your training." Explained Voldemort.

"Training? For what?" Harry was extremely curious now.

"You do not know?"

"Well if I am asking, then I obviously do not know." Replied Harry.

"I have listened to the rest of that Prophecy, Mr. Potter. I know what the rest of it now," began Voldemort, "I will not make the same mistake I made so many years ago."

"And what's that?" asked Harry defiantly.

" 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to tho-' "

"I know all that!" exclaimed Harry, "Get on with it."

" 'But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not.' " Finished Voldemort, " I must find what powers you have, and find a way to put them into my use. I know your Auror training will come in handy."

" I want to leave. Now." Said Harry

"You have no control over that Mr. Potter. I would suggest you get as comfortable as possible." Replied the Dark Lord. Harry began to get very frustrated. He stood up, his fists clenched.

" Tell me when I'm going to leave!" he yelled.

"Temper, Temper, Mr. Potter," replied Voldemort's cold voice, "I would work on that if I were you."

Harry, shaking in anger, turned around and walked out the door. He walked down the corridor that he had walked down before. He saw the three Death Eaters that had lead him down from his room. He brushed right past them, leaving them shocked. He was fuming. He kicked open the door to his room and slammed it shut, in the Death Eater's face. Throwing himself down in the chair, he stared into the fire.

"Ewan!" he called

Ewan, who had been hiding in the corner of the room, came forward.

"Yes, my Lord?" asked Ewan

"I'm going to ask you a question Ewan, and you are going to tell me the absolute truth," began Harry, "Do you swear it?"

"Y-yes, sir." Trembled Ewan.

"Are you a Death Eater?"


	10. The Truth

The Love I Live For - Chapter 12 - The Truth

"Sir?"

"You heard me, Ewan. Are you a Death Eater?" prompted Harry.

"But Sir.. Why - why?' Ewan was trembling, but there was something in his voice that showed that he wasn't as scared as he made himself sound.

"You swore that you would tell the truth. Now tell me!" exclaimed Harry. Ewan remained silent, but lowered his head towards the floor, almost like it had become more interesting.

"No, sir." Replied Ewan in a quiet voice.

Harry, who was now very angry, threw himself into the nearest armchair. No one spoke, there was only silence. Harry tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, trying to think. Ewan moved from his spot behind Harry's chair to the chair facing his. When he spoke, the tone in Ewan's voice had changed drastically.

"Harry, listen. I had to lie to you."

"Oh, so now I'm 'Harry'?" replied Harry angrily.

"What do you want me to do, still call you my Lord?" said Ewan, sarcastically. Harry didn't reply, he just continued tapping his fingers. There was that silence again.

"Why did you 'have to lie to me'?" asked Harry in a frustrated voice, "And who are you if you aren't a Death Eater?"

"I can't tell you that." Replied Ewan.

"Why not? It's not like I'm a Death Eater or anything." spat Harry angrily, "Or do you not trust me enough?"

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I ca-"

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses." Harry interrupted, "I just want to know the truth."

"Fine. I'll tell you the truth." Said Ewan, "What do you want to know?"

Harry sat up at the chance to get all his questions answered. He thought for a moment before saying, "What's your real name?"

"My real name is Ewan Alexander Varulv." Replied Ewan

"Okay, so at least you haven't lied to me about that." he thought again, "Well, who do you work for?"

"What are my choices?"

"Well duh, Voldemort or Dumbledore?" said Harry, rolling his eyes. Ewan had shivered again at Voldemort's name, but Harry hadn't noticed.

"Dumbledore." Said Ewan, after recovering from his shudder.

"Well now that I know that you aren't a Death Eater. Can you tell me why you are here?" said Harry.

"I shouldn't really be telling you but. but I can tell that you would seriously hurt me if I didn't tell you, so I will." Ewan said. Harry liked it much better when he wasn't cowering in fear, or trembling.

"Alright then, let's hear it." He said.

"I work for the Order." Ewan said quietly, after looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"The Order of the Phoe-!" Harry practically yelled. Ewan interrupted him by shushing.

"Yes, yes. That's it."

"Well how come I've never seen you at Headquarters? How come you've never been at Grimmauld Place?" Harry started, but cut himself off when he mentioned Grimmauld Place. He couldn't believe he himself had mentioned it. Ewan however, didn't notice his pause.

"You've never seen me at Grimmauld Place because I wasn't one to sit around talking about something. I wanted to be out there and get it done with before more innocent people were hurt or killed." Continued Ewan. Harry mentally shook his head to get rid of thoughts of Sirius, and listened.

"How long have you been working for Dumbledore?" asked Harry, suspiciously. He seemed to doubt Ewan's reliability.

"For a long time, I don't know exactly how long. And I know what your thinking, but I really do work for the Order." Said Ewan, eyeing Harry.

"So.. Wait a second." said Harry as realization dawned on him. This was an Order of the Phoenix member. THE Order of the Phoenix. He was saved. He was free. He could get out of the dreadful place and go back to Hermione. Hermione.

"Can I get out of here then?" he said before his brain was able to stop him, "I want to go see all my friends, I want to see Hermione."

"I can't do that."

"Oh great, more of your secrets. Fine, I'll play along. How come you can't do that?" said Harry.

"I can't because I haven't gotten signal from Dumbledore that it's okay." Said Ewan, sighing slightly, as though frustrated that he even had to go through this with Harry.

"Signal? For what? There should be a bunch of Aurors outside right now, waiting to help us once we escape." Said Harry, pointing out the window.

"All the Aurors that are still alive are too busy." Replied Ewan sadly.

"Too bus- hold on, Still alive? There are Aurors that are dead? How did this happen?" asked Harry worriedly. Some of his friends were Aurors.

"Harry, I don't think you know what is going on out there. There is a major war going on. It's probably the biggest one yet. Dumbledore gets sheets of parchment sent to him each day telling him of another casualty." Replied Ewan, with an even more depressed tone.

"Why doesn't the Ministry handle it?" asked Harry

"The Ministry has no one to lead them. Yep, that's right," he said, cutting Harry off before he began, "Fudge left the Ministry. Took his Highest Officials with him. Turned to the Dark Side. Dumbledore heads this war, using Auror's and all of his supporters and followers."

"I can't believe Cornelius Fudge went to the Dark Side." said Harry in disbelief.

"Well believe it." Said Ewan, "Cornelius Fudge is the kind of man that will grab any bit of power if he can. You-Know-Who offered him power on a platter and so obviously he took it."

Harry sat for a moment, with his eyes closed. He was picturing the world outside. What might it look like? Was it full of rubble and destruction? How many people, exactly, were dead? Were his friends a part of that number?

"Can you tell me about Hermione?" asked Harry finally.

"What do you want to know about her?" replied Ewan simply.

"Well I want to know how she is!" said Harry, "How is she? What is she doing? Where is she staying?"

"She's just fine, Harry. Dumbledore has been having someone stay with her all the time. Apparently losing you has hit her very hard. Last I heard, she was in hiding, but don't worry, Dumbledore is hiding with her this time." Replied Ewan, answering all of Harry's questions.

"Wait a moment. Losing me? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Harry, "It almost makes it sound like she thinks I'm d-"

"Dead." Ewan finished his sentence and turned his eyes towards the ground.

"But I'm not dead!" said Harry furiously, "Why does she think I am?"

"No one has actually told her that you are dead, but no one has told her otherwise, even the people that know you are alive." Answered Ewan.

"Why doesn't someone tell her that I am alive?" asked Harry, who was trying to hold back tears.

"I don't know. Dumbledore just wants to make sure that she doesn't know that you are alive. And it's working."

"She needs to know. If she's taking it that hard, then she needs to know!" yelled Harry.

"Shhh, Harry. You wouldn't want Death Eaters to come in and kill both of us, not after all we've discussed, would you?" said Ewan quietly, trying to shush Harry.

"Why not? Might as well die, since Hermione thinks I'm dead." Said Harry in a grumpy way.

"Don't talk like that. Hermione wants you alive, even if she thinks you are dead," said Ewan, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I know she loves you. Just know that."

"Can you give her a message for me?" asked Harry. Ewan laughed, Harry felt a surge of anger at Ewan for laughing when they were discussing a serious - and to Harry - touchy subject.

"I can't do that Harry," said Ewan between his laughs, "How would it look to Hermione if she received a message from her thought-to-be-dead husband? That wouldn't make our task much easier."

"So if I can't contact her and she can't contact me, what do we do now?" said Harry.

"Well. I suppose we just wait for Dumbledore's signal." Replied Ewan, shrugging.

"What's his signal?" asked Harry, looking over Ewan's shoulder toward the small window, as if hoping to see some type of signal.

"He just said that I'd know it when I saw it. You would have thought he would give me some better instructions, seems how I am over here just waiting." Replied Ewan.

"Yeah." said Harry, whose mind was clearly on things other than Ewan. He was too busy focusing on seeing Hermione, maybe sometime in the near future. He just hated the fact that she thought he was dead, but what was he going to do about it. He was locked in Hogwarts surrounded by idiotic Death Eaters... and Voldemort.


	11. Thoughts of Escape and a Dangerous Missi...

'A woman with long, brown curly hair was running down a stone hallway. She was

clutching a bundle of what looked like white blankets and she kept looking fearfully behind

her. There were the sound of loud explosions in the distance, and shouting voices. One of

the voices becomes louder and the woman picks up her pace. She holds the bundle closer to

her chest as a hand grabs her shoulder and pulls her back. One masked figure tears the

bundle from her grip, and the other points it's wand at her voice and says a short spell

before she crumples to the floor.'

Hermione Potter woke with a start, sweat pouring down her face. Her heart was

racing madly and she held her blanket up to her chin in order to grasp that she really was in

her bed. She put a hand on her round tummy, reassuring herself that the dream hadn't

happened. Above her, a soft snore could be heard. As Hermione started to relax, she

chuckled when she realized that the person snoring was Tonks. Hermione swung her legs

over the side of her bed and stretched. She had always been a morning person, and she was

always waking up before everyone else. She began to dress in the dark, pulling on her large

robes over top of everything. After she was done, she turned to face the bunk where Tonks

was tangled in her sheets and blankets. She poked her side a few times to wake her.

"Whadjawan?" answered a sleepy Tonks. Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes, she

poked her again.

"Come on, Tonks, wake up."

Tonks' eyes slowly opened up and she rubbed them. She sat up and swung her legs

over the side, shivering.

"Why'd ya get me up so e-e-early?" asked Tonks, failing to stifle a yawn. Hermione

put her hands on her hips.

"Don't you want some breakfast before the other people eat most of it?"

At this Tonks' eyes opened up wide and she seemed to be wide awake at the mention

of breakfast, and food. Hermione giggled at Tonks' reaction, which was so similar to Ron's

reaction when food was mentioned.

"Yeah, yeah, food sounds good." Said Tonks as she jumped from her top bunk. She

pulled a robe around her shoulders and slipped her feet into some shoes.

"Come on," she said, "Let's go eat."

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed as Tonks marched out of the small room, only

interested in eating. She followed Tonks' bright purple hair down the hallway and into the

large common room. There was a table on one side of the room with a variety of breakfast

foods spread out on it. Tonks was immediately standing over the table, loading food onto

her plate. She sat down on one of the couches and began shoveling food into her mouth.

Hermione watched Tonks in disgust for a moment before putting a few things on her own

plate and sitting down next to Tonks. They were only eating alone for a few moments when

the person with the appetite to rival Tonks' showed up; Ron.

"Hey Ron," said Hermione, "You're up early."

He yawned and stretched his arms out above his head, accidentally lifting up his too

small shirt and revealing part of his pale stomach. Blushing, he pulled down his shirt,

hoping that Tonks hadn't noticed.

"Yeah I know. I'm supposed to be going on some type of mission today. I'm not

exactly sure what about, but it's supposed to be important and Dumbledore wanted to make

sure that I went," He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Hermione, "What are

you doing up, anyway? You should be getting your sleep."

"Oh, Ron. You know I can't sleep much these days. Just... too much on my mind."

She sighed and after a pause went back to her breakfast.

Ron's attention abruptly turned to Tonks and he straightened himself out to stand

taller. He hastily ran a hand through his messy red hair and cleared his throat.

"So... Tonks." He began nervously. Tonks stopped chewing on a biscuit and

looked up at him, eyebrows raised, she swallowed.

"Yeah? What?"

Ron sat down next to her.

"Why do you want everyone to call you Tonks?" he asked sincerely. Tonks looked

at him in disbelief.

"You'd want to be called that too if you had a first name like mine."

"I... uh... I like your name. It's very pretty." Said Ron, blushing slightly.

"Oh... well... I guess it's not that bad." She smiled. Ron laughed a bit at her sudden

change of heart.

Hermione looked up at the sound of laughter. She smiled to herself at the interaction between Ron and Tonks. Hermione could tell that Ron had a bit of a crush on her, and from what she could guess, Tonks felt the same way about him. But she knew that neither one of them would say anything, not at first at least. Hermione allowed herself a small smile as she looked at her two friends.

Dumbledore, wearing his usual robes, walked out of a room directly off of the

common room. He looked like he was the most rested person in the world, except for the

slight dullness that was in his usually twinkling eyes. He looked around at the few people

that occupied the room and walked towards Ron and Tonks when he spotted them. As he

walked past Hermione, he stopped, placing a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring way. She

looked up at him and he smiled at her, giving her confidence that in the end, everything just

had to be all right. He continued walking towards Ron and Tonks and stood for a moment,

quiet, beside them as they finished their conversation.

"So... do you think maybe we could... maybe we could... go out sometime?"

Dumbledore heard Ron, who didn't realize Dumbledore was standing there, say to Tonks.

At this, Tonks blushed slightly and appeared to be thinking about Ron's proposition.

"Ron, I think we should wait until this whole thing is over," she said, gesturing to

their hidden refuge, "I wouldn't want anything to happen between us that would make me

regret becoming an Auror."

Ron looked disappointed, but seemed to truly understand. He probably felt the

same way, in the end, and so he nodded. Dumbledore found this a good time to interrupt,

and he cleared his throat. Ron looked up in surprise at Dumbledore, but quickly regained

his composure.

"I'm going to need you to go get the others, Ron. We need to get this started as

soon as possible if we want to successfully pull off this mission." said Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir, but if you don't mind my asking, are you going to tell me what the mission

is yet?" he asked, almost afraid to ask this question again.

"You will be informed of your exact duty at our briefing, but only once all the other

people are awake and fed." replied Dumbledore, chuckling at his use of Ron's curiosity to

his advantage. Ron sighed, giving up, and trudged off to go wake the other people who were

going to be participating in this journey. After Ron had turned the corner, Dumbledore

turned to Tonks and his expression became a bit more serious.

"As much as I hate to ask this from you, Nymphadora, I'm afraid that you will have

to stay here," Dumbledore continued on before she could protest.

"I need you to do this because, yes, you are a very good Auror,

but I need someone to stay here, with the people, just incase something happens. You can

protect them, and if anyone comes here that might be useful to us, you can contact me easier

from here."

Seeing that there was no possible way she could change his mind, she gave up and

sighed.

"Fine, if that's what you want me to do Albus. But how many times have I asked

you to _please _call me Tonks?" she asked, exasperated. Dumbledore did not answer, just

walked away, chuckling. Tonks got up a few minutes later and followed down the hallway

Ron had used early before. She found him in a room trying to wake two stubborn Aurors

who did not seem to think he had enough authority to wake them up. They kept yelling at

him to go away, which was just making Ron angry. He straightened himself up and puffed

out his chest.

"I am on direct orders from Albus Dumbledore. If you do not listen to me, you do

not listen to him. He told me to wake you up and that's what I'm doing!" he sounded like a

little kid. The two Aurors did not do anything except snore for a few minutes and finally

Ron got desperate.

"Please get up!" he whined, "Come on!"

The Aurors finally got up when Tonks hit one of them, who, in the process of

jumping up in surprise, hit his head on the bottom of the top bunk. He nudged his friend,

who was still sleeping on the top bunk, as he rubbed his head. The first Auror saw Tonks

standing there and abruptly stopped rubbing his head.

"Hey Tonks..." he said slowly, giving her a smile. Tonks raised one eyebrow to look

at him and rolled her eyes. Ron looked on, jealous, but did not say anything. Tonks ignored

all of them and pulled on the Auror's foot to get him out of bed.

"Come on! Dumbledore wants you up, so get up." she said, and she walked out of

the room. Ron and the Aurors were left in the room alone, and they looked at each other

with contempt. Ron followed Tonks out of the room and began to finish waking the others

before heading to the room designated as the 'Conference Room' to begin the briefing.

All the Aurors began filing into the room. Ron sat next to where  
Dumbledore

would sit and watched them. He recognized some faces, but the majority  
he did not

know. Tonks came in and smiled at him – causing Ron to turn the color of  
a beet –

before sitting down in her designated seat. The other Aurors were  
talking amongst

themselves, waiting for Albus to arrive when suddenly, he did. As quiet  
as a mouse, he

entered through the door and took his seat at the head of the table. The  
Aurors all took

their seats and looked towards Dumbledore, waiting to hear about the  
mission they were

to take part in.

Dumbledore waited until all the talking had stopped before clearing  
his throat to

speak. All the attention turned towards Dumbledore as he began the  
meeting.

"I believe we all know about the disappearance of our Mr. Potter," he  
paused, "and

if you don't, well... you should."

A few people chuckled and Ron turned his head sharply to glare at  
them, before

turning back to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stopped talking about Harry and the mission and turned to  
Tonks.

"Nymphadora, could you please see to it that Mrs. Potter has company?"  
he said.

Tonks looked slightly annoyed, but got up and left the room anyway.

"Well, we seem to have found the place where he is being held captive,  
as I have

already told some of you. I have just contacted one of my agents on the  
inside and he

has reassured me that Mr. Potter is alive and well. My spy, I guess you  
could call him, is

doing his best to make sure that Harry is being properly taken care of,  
at least, the best

he can. But why I called this meeting, is because we need to get him out  
of there. My

inside person has informed me that there is a ritual in which Harry is  
supposed to be

sacrificed that is approaching and of course, we must stop the ceremony.  
Do I have any

volunteers for this dangerous mission? You won't be judged if you don't  
volunteer."

And as Dumbledore thought would happen, every single person in the  
conference room raised his or her hand.  
--------------------  
Harry Potter was lying on his stomach watching the door to his 'prison  
cell'. He was

waiting for Ewan to return. He had woken up Harry very early that  
morning, telling him

that he was supposed to meet his contact for some information from  
Dumbledore.

Even though it was early, he was not able to go back to sleep. He was  
too anxious to

find out what Dumbledore had to say. He was also worried about Ewan, now  
that he

knew what side of the war he was on.

Harry rolled over on his back and stared up at the ceiling, folding  
his hands over his

chest. Then he heard footsteps, which scared him so badly that he fell  
of the bed. The

door opened and there was Ewan, looking somewhat pleased and a little  
nervous, too.

"Harry, get up!" he walked over to where Harry lay on the ground, and  
pulled him

up, "I've got some news."

Harry could tell by the excitement in his voice that this was not bad  
news, so he did

not get worried. He waiting impatiently to hear what Ewan had to say,  
but Ewan was

still trying to catch his breath from running down the hallway.

"Come on, Ewan, tell me!" Harry finally exploded after about 5  
minutes.

"Fine, just relax. I'll tell you." Ewan replied, somewhat annoyed,  
"Alright. I've just

heard from my contact that Dumbledore is taking a group of Aurors that  
volunteered to

try and get you out of here."

Hearing this news, Harry was immediately happy, but then he rethought  
what Ewan

had said and a frown appeared on his face.

"But what about you? Won't they try to get you out of here too?" he  
asked,

confused. Ewan looked to the ground and sighed.

"No, Harry. They won't be trying to get me out. I've got to stay  
here, to keep up

the appearance that I'm a Death Eater."

"But if they're not trying to get you out, how are you going to?"  
Harry asked.

"I don't know, Harry, I don't know." Ewan replied sadly.


	12. Priorities

Chapter 12 – Priorities

The meeting was over. It had been decided, and every person in that room had volunteered to go and rescue Harry. The rest of the meeting had been dedicated to figuring out a way to do that, since it seemed impossible. One of the Aurors had suggested a plan that, although it seemed crazy, was the best one thought up. All of the Aurors were getting up, most likely to go talk to relatives or friends before their mission was to begin. Remus approached Albus right after the meeting was over.

"Albus?"

"Yes, Remus, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you'd thought about that ... um thing that we talked about?" Remus asked, nervously twisting a string that was hanging off of his robes.

Albus shook his head sadly; "I'm sorry Remus. I just don't know if it can be done. I've thought of everything but nothing seems to work."

"Well..." Remus sighed, "At least I know that you've thought about it."

Albus put a hand on Remus' shoulder to try and comfort him, "I want him back as much as you do, Remus, but we've got to set our priorities straight. I'm sorry."

Remus walked away, greatly disappointed. He saw Hermione sitting on one of the couches in front of the fireplace and tried to erase any sadness he felt before approaching her.

"My lady," he said, bowing before her, "Why is a woman as beautiful as you sitting here all alone?"

Hermione smiled at him, knowing he was trying to make her feel better. She patted the seat next to her, gesturing for him to sit down.

"Why are you always so nice to me, Remus?" Hermione said, chuckling softly.

"Are you saying you want me to be mean?" he asked with a smirk.

Hermione looked at him, smiling, "I never said that, you just twisted my words around."

Remus laughed and leaned back on the couch. No one talked, and he glanced into the fireplace. After a few minutes, he spoke, turning to face her.

"We'll find him, you know," he said, "We'll get him back, I promise."

- - - - - -

"Ewan, I can't just leave you here, alone, with all these Death Eaters." Said Harry, still in shock over what Ewan had told him.  
"You have no choice, Harry." Ewan was currently pacing Harry's room, "When I hear from my contact, I'm going to know the plan for getting you out of here, and then I'm going to do it. There is nothing about me getting out, and I'm not going to jeopardize your life."

"How would it jeopardize my life to try and get you out too?" Harry asked.

"You just don't understand. We're trying to save you. Only you. That's it. I can't explain it any better." Ewan said, frustrated.

Harry was mad, too. He hated the thought of being chosen for rescue over someone else.

"Ewan, I swear, I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of here."

"If I leave, they are going to know I'm not a Death Eater, and then there will be trouble." He replied, sitting down on the edge of Harry's bed.

"But there are already a few Death Eaters who don't know of you. I'm afraid it was before I knew you worked for the Order, but ... I asked them about you and they denied that you existed at all." Harry said, extremely confused.

"Well it depends on who you ask," and then he added, "Some of them are very stupid."

"I guess that explains it then. But I'm still confused about the way I'm being treated here. Since I arrived in this room, I've been treated very well, but according to those same Death Eaters, I should be in a room much like the prison I was held in before." Said Harry.

"Let me point something out... 'Those same Death Eaters'," Ewan replied, quoting Harry, "Very stupid."

"Well now that everything is explained, I'd like to ask you a question I've been wanting to since you came back this morning."

Ewan shrugged, "Sure. Go ahead."

Harry stood up and walked toward the small window before turning back to face Ewan again, "I want to know about Hermione. How is she? What is she doing? How is the baby?"

Ewan smiled, "Hermione's fine. She's still in hiding with Dumbledore and another group of people. She's very safe, trust me. Ron Weasley is there with her."

A look of relief came over Harry's face and he sighed happily, "And the baby?"

"Right on schedule. Of course, he/she hasn't been born yet but Dumbledore said to tell you that you should be out of here in time for it." Replied Ewan, happy to give some good news for a change.

"He/she? You don't know if it's a girl or a boy yet?" asked Harry, almost absentmindedly.

Ewan smiled, "Of course we do. You just aren't allowed to know."

- - - - -

"You ready for this Ferret?"

"Better than you are, Weasel."

Ron smiled at the use of that nickname. He had long gotten over it, and now, it was a reminder of the past, of happier times, even if they involved a Draco Malfoy that was a complete asshole. Draco and Ron were preparing for their mission to start. They had, of course, volunteered to go and rescue Harry. When Ginny had heard that Draco had signed up, she was of course, pleased that he wanted to help save a former enemy, but also upset because it was a very dangerous mission, and as the son of a Death Eater, he would be treated more harshly if captured. She had gone off to see Hermione, but had returned and was now sitting in-between Draco and Ron.

"I'm glad you two signed up for this... although I'm not glad at the same time." She said, leaning over to hug Ron, then to hug and kiss Draco.

Draco pretended to be disgusted and Ron laughed at Ginny's face. "Don't even try it. I'm trying to be serious and here you go making jokes. I'm going to be so worried about you. About both of you." She said, looking back and forth between her husband and her brother.

"Aw, come on, Gin. We're just playing around. We're gonna have to be serious for this entire mission, we should at least get a chance to have fun now. Isn't that right, Malfoy?"

Draco nodded, and then put up his right hand and said, "I swear that when this mission starts, I, Draco Malfoy, will take it with complete seriousness, but until then, will have all the fun I could possibly have."

Ginny laughed, "You are impossible."

Ron fake gagged as they kissed again, "And you two are incredibly gross."


	13. The Deep Breath before the Plunge

Chapter 13 – The Deep Breath before the Plunge  
  
"Alright, I think I've gone over everything." Dumbledore paused in his speech for a moment, trying to remember if there was anything else to discuss, "You all know what time to be here tomorrow?"

All of the people in the room nodded their heads, showing Dumbledore that they were prepared.

"Well, I guess that's it then. Off you go." He said with a small wave of his hand.

As the Aurors filed out of the room, Hermione, who had been sitting in on the meeting to know what was going on, approached Albus.

"I feel like I'm back in Hogwarts, giving another speech at the beginning of they year," he chuckled to himself, "Now what can I do for you Hermione?"

"Well, sir... Albus." Hermione corrected herself as she saw the look in Dumbledore's eyes, "I was wondering if have any information on Harry. You obviously know where he is, if you are sending out Aurors to rescue him."

"Yes, yes, I do know. It took me a long time to figure it out, but thanks to a contact that is watching over him, I was informed of Harry's whereabouts." Albus replied.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears, "So... so he's alive, then?" Although Tonks had told her that Harry was alive and at Hogwarts, for some reason, Hermione hadn't been able to take this as the truth until she heard it from Dumbledore himself.

"Yes, my dear. I'm happy to inform you that he is indeed, alive."

Extremely relieved, Hermione began to cry and she sat down on the couch that was nearby. Dumbledore, attempting to comfort her, not knowing the tears were happy tears, sat down next to her.

"Oh!" Hermione cried suddenly, clutching her stomach.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Dumbledore asked, concerned.

"Yes, at least, I'm pretty sure I am." She replied, wincing.

"I think you had better go back to your room and get in bed. I know of someone here who is a medi-witch. I'll have her come see you." He said, slowly helping her up, "I'll escort you to your room, first."

- - - - - -

"Only 3 more hours, Weasel. Tired yet?" Draco Malfoy was laying on his back on the top bunk in his room. He was staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep. He and Ron only had a few more hours until they were to leave for their mission and neither one could fall asleep.

"Weasel?" Draco asked, not getting a response. He rolled over and looked underneath his bunk, "Ron?"

Ron was asleep, and his only reply was a large snore. Draco rolled back onto his bunk and lay back again. He missed Ginny. He had finally convinced her to go stay with Hermione, who was now supposed to stay in bed 24/7. And he was alone. Alone, 3 hours before he had to leave on a possibly life-threatening mission. He must be crazy. But... but Hermione needed her, he rationalized. 'Needs her more than I do. So I'm just going to ... lay here... and shut my eyes. Only for a...' he yawned, 'moment.'

Draco shut his eyes, intending to wait out the next three hours, but immediately failed to do so and fell asleep.

- - - - - -

"Ginny?"

"Yes, Hermione. Do you need something?" replied the red-headed girl on the bunk next to Hermione's.

"No. I was just thinking, are you nervous?" Hermione asked.

"Why would I be nervous?" she said, sitting up to face Hermione.

"Well I just thought. I mean, your brother and your husband are going off on a dangerous mission. I just thought… maybe you were nervous. I've been thinking about that for awhile." She explained.

"I'm worried, if that's what you mean. But nervous? No. I trust that Professor Dumbledore will do everything he can to protect them. I mean, it is Dumbledore after all." Ginny answered.

"Oh. Well I guess that makes sense." Hermione said, moving onto her side.

"I feel a lot better knowing that Harry is alive," she continued, " But I just can't wait to have him home again, with me."

"I know what you mean, Hermione. I mean, I know I haven't been in your situation, and hopefully I never will be, but I can't even imagine life without Draco."

"Why don't you get some sleep Hermione? I'm sure all of this isn't helping you to relax more." Said Ginny.

"You're probably right Ginny. Good night."

"Night, Hermione."

- - - - - -

"Draco... wake up." Someone was trying to wake Draco out of a wonderful dream, "Malfoy, don't make me curse you. We've got to go."

"No... leave... alone.." was all Draco said as he pushed the mystery person's hand away.

"Get. Up. NOW."

That woke Draco up. His eyelids snapped open and he looked into the very angry, and very red, face of Ron Weasley.

"Gahh!" Draco fell out of bed upon seeing Ron's angry face.

Apparently Ron found the sight of Draco tangled in bed sheets in a mess on the floor, and he burst out laughing.

"Come on Malfoy, get going. Dumbledore's called all Aurors together before the mission. Knowing him, I bet it's another speech." Ron said, helping Draco to his feet.

"Great. Let's get this party started then." Replied Draco sarcastically.


	14. In Search of Escape

Chapter 14 – In Search of Escape

Harry was sitting on one of the chairs in his 'prison cell', staring into the fireplace thinking about Hermione when Ewan came through the door. He was out of breath and looked scared.

"Harry... you've... you've got to hide." He said, between breaths.

Harry stood up, slightly alarmed, "What are you talking about. Are you mad?"

"No." Ewan shook his head, still trying to catch his breath, "I was just at a Death Eater meeting... and they said that they were going to sacrifice you... tonight."

Harry's eyes went wide and he looked around frantically, trying to comprehend what he was just told.

"Well what about all that stuff Voldemort said about training me to figure out my powers and such?" Harry asked

"It was just a decoy. He knows you have powers, and he's going to use them. In this ceremony, he's going to sacrifice you and then gain your powers. If we don't do something now, you are going to die."

"What about the rescue mission you told me about? Will they show up in time?" Harry asked, worried.

"I don't think so. Maybe, but I don't want to risk that they won't."

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to think of a plan. You look for someplace to hide just incase they come in." Ewan replied, sitting down in the plush chair next to him. Harry nodded, and began looking around the room.

- - - - -

"I guess all that's left to say is, 'Good luck men'..." Dumbledore finished his speech, but added, "And Good luck women, too." When he saw a female Auror near the front cleared her throat. Dumbledore chuckled nervously.

"I hope that we are able to accomplish everything that we need to."

He nodded to the Aurors one by one as they left the room, headed toward almost certain doom. Dumbledore stopped one Auror before they left, "You have it?"

"Yes, sir. And extra, too, just in case." He replied before walking out of the room.

"Good, good... I think this plan will work after all." Said Dumbledore to himself, "As long as we don't tell Remus."

"As long as we don't tell Remus, what?"

Dumbledore turned around, to face Remus Lupin, looking at him with a curious and puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, nothing." Dumbledore said, putting his hand on Lupin's shoulder, "It's just a saying. Haven't you ever heard that one before? 'As long as we don't tell Remus'?"

Dumbledore could tell that Lupin didn't believe him, but tried to keep a calm look on his face. Lupin would never let this plan continue if he knew what it involved.

"I guess I haven't... But anyway, have you found a way to get him out _yet_?"

"I'm sorry, but-" Dumbledore began.

"You haven't. I know, I know." Remus finished for him, then looked away.

- - - - -

It had been a lot easier than Draco had thought. Go in under the disguise of being a Death Eater and because they all thought he was, if they discovered him, he wouldn't be killed. It was going to be his duty to get in there, his one chance to prove to Dumbledore and the Order that he really had changed. He had set out with the idea of doing this right, and he had done it. He was almost to Harry's room, vial in hand. He couldn't believe he had made it.

He snuck into the room, but didn't see Harry. All he saw was this young man sitting on a chair. He cleared his throat. The young man stood up so quickly, Draco wasn't sure if it was physically possible.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just keeping guard over Potter." The young man stuttered.

"What is your name?" Draco asked him.

"Ewan Varulv, my Lord." Replied Ewan, bowing.

"Varulv?" Draco asked, realizing exactly who Ewan was.

"Y-yes. And may I ask who you are, sir?" Ewan asked, trembling.

"Ewan! It's me, Draco!" Draco said, pulling off the Death Eater mask.

"Draco, Oh thank God. You're here."

"Where is Harry? I'm here to get him out of here."

"He's hiding." Replied Ewan

"Alright, here is the plan..." Draco began

- - - - -

"Do I look realistic?"

"I've never seen anyone look more realistic, except for the original, of course." Draco replied.

"Alright, let's go." Replied Harry Potter. Well, at least, he looked like Harry Potter. He was really Ewan Varulv, using Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think your going? If you go to them, they're going to get suspicious. D'uh!" said Draco, grabbing Ewan by the arm as he tried to walk by, "We have to wait for them to come to us."

"Yeah, true."

"You know, your dad would be really proud of you, what your doing. You're going to be a hero." Said Draco

"I'm proud to be doing this, too, I'm just nervous." Ewan said.

"I'll be sure to tell him what you said before. I know he's been trying to think of a way to get you out of here. He's even been bugging Dumbledore, too." Draco said sadly.

"As long as Harry is safe, my job is done."

"Well he will be. I'll make sure of it. It's the least I can do for the sacrifice you are making." Draco replied.

"Would you tell Harry I said good-bye, too?" Ewan asked.

"Of course."

- - - - -

Harry had been hiding in a place that Ewan had deemed safe. He wasn't exactly sure how it was possible that he was fitting in such a small place, but he had other things to worry about at the moment. He couldn't hear anything that was going on and that made him very worried. All of a sudden, Harry heard the noise of someone opening the door that lead to his hiding place and he tensed up. He closed his eyes, praying that it wasn't a Death Eater. When he opened his eyes, he was looking at Draco Malfoy.

"Draco!" Harry said, "I've never been happier to see you in my life!"

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Draco said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him out of his hiding place.

"Please tell me you have a plan for getting me out of here." Harry said, remembering that ceremony that was to take place later in the evening.

"No, I just came by for a cup of tea." Draco said, "Yes, of course I have a plan, you idiot."

"Thank God."

Draco searched his pocket for a second before pulling out a vial. He handed it to Harry along with one short brown hair.

"Here, put the hair in the vial, and then drink it." Draco said.

After putting in the hair, the potion turned a greenish-blue color and Harry looked at it curiously.

"It's Polyju-" began Draco

"I know what it is. I've made it before." Harry said before plugging his nose and drinking the Polyjuice potion. Harry began to change right before Draco's eyes. Once he finished, Harry looked down, trying to figure out who he had been changed into.

"So who am I?" Harry asked, looking at the Death Eater robes that Draco was now handing him to change into.

"Ewan. You've been changed into Ewan and he's been changed into you." Draco replied.

Harry sighed, "Wow, I never thought I'd be wearing Death Eater robes, and by choice."

"I would have never thought I'd be helping you escape from Death Eaters but a lot of things have changed." Draco said, sitting down on the couch.

"You're right. So, tell me how we are going to get out of here. It'll be easier now that I look like a Death Eater, but they aren't going to let us just walk out of here." Said Harry, also sitting down on the couch.

"I know. So here's the plan." Draco said, leaning forward.

- - - - -


	15. The Great Sacrifice

"Come on you" a Death Eater said.

Ewan, as Harry, was being led down the hallway. Ewan knew where he was going, and what was waiting for him, but he was still nervous and scared.

The other Death Eaters had fallen for it, thinking he was Harry. They had come bursting into Harry's room, trying to find him. Harry had already been hidden away, and since Ewan already looked like Harry, they just grabbed him and didn't notice Draco, hiding under the bed.

Ewan was glad the plan had gone the way it was supposed to. He wouldn't be doing this if he weren't 100 sure that Harry would be safe. He trusted Draco though, he had basically grown up with him. Their fathers had been enemies, but that hadn't stopped them from being friends.

He couldn't believe what he was going to do. Maybe he _would_ become a hero, like Draco had said. Maybe he would be in the History books along with Harry himself. Of course, he would have rather to stay alive and stay out of the history books but he had no other choice.

As they approached the door that would lead him to his doom, Ewan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, preparing himself for this great sacrifice.

- - - - -

Draco and Harry, dressed in Death Eater robes with the matching masks were walking down the hallway, trying to look like they belonged and didn't have anything to hide. Of course, if they were spotted as different, they wouldn't be in danger because they were both known as Death Eaters, Draco and Ewan. But Harry didn't want to give the other Death Eaters any reason to stop them in the first place.

"Where's the exit in this place?" Harry whispered to Draco.

"We're not looking for an exit." Draco whispered back, continuing his fast pace.

Harry stopped walking and whispered harshly, "What?"

Draco stopped and turned around, getting slightly annoyed, "I said, we're not looking for an exit. Will you just trust me."

"It's kind of hard to trust you when I have no clue what's going to happen, and nothing you are telling me makes sense." Harry said, catching up to Draco, "Come on, I want to get out of here."

"Fine with me. You aren't the only one that has a wife to get to." Draco said.

"Wait, wait, wait. What?" Harry said.

"I said, Fine with me. You aren't the only one that has a wife to get to." Draco said slowly, as if Harry was stupid.

"I heard what you said, but what did you mean by it? Since when do you have a wife, and who is she?" Harry asked, thinking that he had missed a lot while he was gone.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. I married Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. About 4 months ago." Draco replied.

"I'm sorry I missed it." Harry said sadly

"Ginny was upset that you weren't going to be there for it, and so we were planning on having a bigger wedding once you had returned, if you did." Draco said, keeping an eye out for other Death Eaters.

"If I returned?" Harry asked

"Harry, you have to remember that for the longest time, we had no clue where you were. We weren't even sure if you were alive. You can't blame us for making plans if it turned out that you hadn't survived." Draco said sadly.

"Fine. Let's just get out of here first, and then we'll discuss you getting married." Harry said, "Which way do we go now?"

"This way, said Draco pointing to the left down a corridor that didn't look to inviting, "Trust me," Draco said, after seeing the look on Harry's face.

"There's a closet at the end of that corridor. It was set up years ago to let you apparate to a designated area in another part of Hogwarts or out of it. That's how we're getting out of here." Draco explained.

"Alright then, let's go." Harry said, letting Draco lead the way.

They walked down the corridor, both thankful that the entire time that they had been trying to leave, they hadn't been spotted by anyone. They reached the closet after what seemed like an eternity.

"I'm going to go first," said Draco, "then afterwards, you just step into the closet. You don't have to do anything because it is already set up."

Draco opened the door to the closet.

"See you on the other side." Draco said. Harry gave Draco a quick wave good-bye before Draco entered the closet and shut the door. Harry couldn't even tell that anything had happened, but the closet door swung open and no one was in it, so he assumed it was his turn.

He got in the closet, closed the door and shut his eyes. He heard a noise that sounded somewhat like wind and then he opened his eyes and saw...


	16. Destinations

Previously:

He got in the closet, closed the door and shut his eyes. He heard a noise that sounded somewhat like wind and then he opened his eyes and saw...

Chapter 16 – Destinations

... nothing. He looked around, but all he saw was a room. It looked just like where he had been staying for the past few months, only he knew it wasn't the same room. But there were no people. And where was Draco?

Harry stepped out of the closet and looked curiously around. The room was sparsely furnished.

"Draco?" Harry called, cautiously inching his way around the room to where a hallway was. Draco walked out of the hallway and Harry sighed a sigh of relief.

"I thought I'd walked into a trap." Harry said

"Well you haven't, but even if you had, you would have apparated into a trap." Draco said, smiling.

"Ha ha ha, very funny. You knew what I meant." Harry said, he sat down on one of the chairs and then looked up at Draco.

"So where is everyone. Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.

"That's where I just was, checking on Hermione." Draco replied, and Harry jumped out of his seat.

"Why, what's wrong with her?"

"You've been gone a long time, Harry." Draco said, slowly approaching Harry as if he were a dangerous animal.

"I said, what's wrong with her?" Harry demanded.

"And not all pregnancies are the full 9 months." Draco said, still coming towards him.

"Just tell me, Draco!" Harry finally yelled.

"Harry, she already had the baby." Draco said in a soft voice. Harry slowly sat down again, bringing his hands to his face.

"I can't believe I missed it." Harry mumbled.

"It's okay, Harry, she'll understand. She'll just be happy that you are alive." Draco said, sitting next to Harry.

"Is she okay? And the baby?" Harry asked, lifting his head from his hands to look at Draco.

"Yes, they are both fine. You'll be able to see them soon." Draco said, trying to comfort Harry.

"Alright. Now tell me, where is Ewan?" Harry asked, not looking forward to the answer.

"He's taken your place. In the ceremony."

"What! We can't let him do that, we've got to save him!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, we can't do that. It's already been all worked out." Replied Draco.

"I can't believe I'm just going to sit here and let him die. I've never done that. Ever" said Harry.

"Well you are just going to have to this time. Come on, let's go see your wife." Draco said, extending his hand for Harry to grab.

- - - - -

Tonks hurried down the hallway towards the room where she knew one of her best friends was. Hermione had just had her baby a few minutes ago, and now Tonks had great news for her. The rescue plan had worked, and now Harry was back. The only bad part about the rescue mission was that out of the original 15 Aurors who had started, all of them except for Draco Malfoy, were stuck. They hadn't been captured yet, but if they didn't get out soon, they would most likely be discovered.

Tonks entered the room to see Hermione sleeping. She really didn't want to wake her up, but Tonks was pretty sure that Hermione would want to hear this news, rather than sleep.

"Hermione," Tonks gently shook Hermione's shoulder, "Hermione, wake up."

"What is it?" Hermione said, almost glaring at Tonks for disturbing her sleep.

"He's back. Harry's back. Draco did it." Tonks said, a wide grin on her face.

Hermione tried to jump out of the bed but was held back by Tonks.

"You, stay in bad. He's coming to you. He should be here soon. Draco had to bring him the long way and apparated to probably the farthest spot from you. It's going to take him at least half an hour." Tonks said, "Go to sleep, and I'll wake you when he's here."

Hermione nodded sleepily and then fell asleep.

- - - - -

"Remus, I have to speak to you about something." Albus said. He had been thinking about this for a long time, and he couldn't delay the news any longer. Lupin looked up from an old copy of the Daily Prophet that he had been reading to take his mind off things.

"Yes, Albus, what is it?" Remus said, folding the newspaper and setting it aside to focus his full attention on the old man.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news about your son." Dumbledore said, turning to face Remus.

Remus's face fell, but he continued trying to stay calm.

"Just tell me."

"We won't be able to get him out." Albus said.

"Well is there any chance that he'll be able to get out on his own?" Remus asked, realizing the extent of Albus' bad news.

"No, Remus. He's... he's going to be killed." Answered Dumbledore.

Remus shut his eyes tight, trying to imagine that his long-time mentor and friend had not just told him his son was going to die. He opened his eyes to see Albus Dumbledore watching him.

"You're sure about this?" Remus asked, praying there was some way to save his son.

"We've tried everything. But it was the only way to get Harry out alive." Dumbledore reasoned.

Remus nodded, trying really hard to not feel anger towards his best friend's godson.


	17. Reunions and Separation

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had been so excited. For the past few months, all the feelings that he had encountered were fear, anger, sadness, and anxiety. In a way, happiness and excitement were new to him.

He had been walking down the hallway with Draco for what seemed like an eternity. They hadn't spoken much since setting off and so Harry had been left alone with his thoughts. He was a father now, and that had only started to sink in in the past 10 minutes. He had also been thinking about Ewan, and how much he would miss him.

He realized that Draco had started saying something to him. He turned to see that Draco was looking at him, waiting for a response.

"I'm sorry Draco, I kind of... missed that whole thing. What did you say?" Harry said.

Draco sighed, "I said, are you ready to do this. She's right inside this door." Draco gestured to a door that Harry had not seen before. He wondered briefly if he really hadn't seen it before and it had just appeared before shaking that thought from his head.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Harry said.

Draco did not say anything more, only pushed open the door, and then backed away to let Harry in.

The room was small, but comfortable, and was mostly dark. He saw a bed in the corner. In the chair next to it, was Tonks, asleep with her head resting on the side of the bed. When Harry walked in, Tonks woke up, and almost immediately stood up and moved out of the way. Harry went to talk to her quickly but she whispered that they would talk later.

Harry turned again to face the bed, his heart beating fast. Harry looked behind him to see if Draco was still there, only to see his back leaning against the doorframe.

He sat down in the chair next to the bed, and took a few deep breaths before reaching his hand over to wake up the person sleeping soundly in the bed.

- - - - -

Remus was alone in his room. He had sent Dumbledore out after he had tried to cheer him up. He didn't want to be cheered up. He wanted his son back. He had known it was a bad idea the minute that Ewan had told him he was going to be a spy for the Order. He knew that if Ewan's mother was still alive, she would have prevented him from becoming a spy, but Remus' hadn't been able to tell his son, 'no'. And so it was his fault that his son was going to die. He was past crying. He had done that for the past hour and a half. There was nothing he could do, so crying certainly wasn't going to help. The worst part, he was really angry with Harry. Part of him knew that it wasn't really Harry's fault, but he was still mad at him. He just hoped that he wouldn't see Harry for a few hours or he didn't know if he could control himself.

He got up and walked around the room, staring at various pictures of his son that had been hidden away for the past few months, incase someone inquired about who he was. But now it was safe, and he had taken out every picture of Ewan that he owned. The only comfort he felt was the fact the he knew Ewan had been happy the past few months. Before a few months ago, Ewan had never met Harry, but had always heard about him. Of course he had heard about him, both of their fathers had been best friends. He had been so excited. Remus stopped and stared at one of the pictures he had recently put up. It was one of the entire family, mere months before Ewan's mother had been killed. Ewan had been twelve and even Remus looked so much younger, even thought the picture had only been taken 7 years ago. Remus sighed a turned the picture face down on the table, unable to look at it.

- - - - -

Draco stood outside of the room, giving Harry and Hermione as much privacy as he could. Out of all of the people that had gone to rescue Harry, he was the only one who had come back. Then a thought came to him, Ron had gone, too. He looked around for Tonks, who was walking around near the end of the hallway.

"Tonks!" Draco whispered loudly, motioning for her to come to his end of the hallway.

"What is it?" she asked after reaching Draco.

"Have you heard anything about Ron?" Draco said urgently.

"No, I had thought he came back. I mean, yeah, I had heard that all the rest of the Aurors were still there, but I had just assumed that... Draco, he didn't come back?" Tonks asked fearfully.

"Well I haven't seen him. Of course the only place I've been so far is from here to the apparation location. He could be somewhere else here." Draco said, looking around behind him as if Ron would show up at his request.

"No," said Tonks, "I've been all around here in the past few hours and I haven't seen him. He must be with the rest of them."

"Did Dumbledore think of a plan just incase something like this happened?"

"No, I think he expected everything to go smoothly. I also think he had something else on his mind, so he wasn't focusing completely." Tonks said.

"Great. What are we going to do now? How are we supposed to think of a plan to rescue 15 or so Aurors when the people that usually think of the plans _are _those same Aurors." Draco said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Just calm down. I'm sure with the people that are here, we can think of something. Besides, there's one piece of the puzzle that you've forgotten about." Tonks said, smiling slightly.

"And what's that?" Draco said, a little frustrated.

"Harry's back." Said Tonks simply.

- - - - -

Hermione would recognize that voice anywhere. There was no way she couldn't. She had listened to it for the past 9 years. What Tonks had said was true, Harry was back. She rolled over quickly to face him, and immediately regretted it.

"Ohh.." she groaned, and held her stomach.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked concerned. It had been months since he had seen her and this wasn't exactly how he had planned their reunion. She nodded and looked up at him for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"Harry." She said, as she reached up to touch his cheek. Harry could hold back no longer, leaning down to pull her into what could have been a bone-crushing hug. Hermione started to cry as she breathed in the familiar scent that was Harry. She couldn't believe that after all this time, he was finally back again, here in her arms like it should have been. They sat like that for at least 5 minutes, before it occurred to Harry that something was missing.

"Where is the baby?" he asked, pulling away.

"She's with Albus. He thought that we might want some time alone for a few minutes." Hermione said, smiling.

"She?" Harry asked, "It's a girl?"

Hermione nodded, still smiling.

"What's her name?" he asked

"I decided that we would name her together. I had been toying with the name James for a boy and Lily for a girl, but since she's a girl, James is out. What do you think, Harry?" Hermione asked, feeling almost like Harry had never been gone.

Harry looked a little sad for a moment before answering, "I don't know about that. I don't really feel comfortable naming our child after my mother. If that makes any sense. I don't want there to be another Lily Potter."

"It's okay, Harry, I understand. I'm sorry I didn't think about that. Did you have any ideas?" Hermione asked, feeling bad about making Harry sad not ten minutes after he had been returned to her.

"I kind of like the name Elizabeth." Harry said shyly.

"That's a wonderful name, Harry, I love it." Hermione said, kissing him, "and I love you."

"I love you, too." Harry said, happy with his choice, "Well since I chose her first name, you can choose her middle name."

"Alright, I'll think about it and then get back to you." Hermione said, smiling at her business-like tone.

Harry smiled, too, so thankful that this nightmare was over.

- - - - -

After spending three hours alone in his rooms, Remus finally emerged, desperate for some company. He walked slowly down the hallway toward what had been designated as the 'Common room'. He finally reached it to find it was full of people, full of happy faces. Dumbledore was there, sitting on one of the many couches, with people surrounding him.

Dumbledore looked up at the sound of someone entering the room and smiled, "Ah, Remus. Come over here, won't you?"

Remus knew that Dumbledore's question wasn't really a question at all, more like his own way of insisting that Remus join them. He sighed and decided to humor the old man.

As he got closer, he realized that Albus was holding something, and that's what all the people were crowded around looking at. And as he came to sit across Dumbledore, he realized that the something was a baby.

"Albus, who...?" he questioned, pointing towards the newborn. Dumbledore smiled and looked down at the sleeping baby with light brown hair.

"This," he said, "is Harry Potter's daughter."

Remus nodded, ashamed for being angry with Harry. He couldn't help but feel this way, but seeing the baby made him realize that Harry had suffered as well and that it truly wasn't Harry's fault. He also realized that he hadn't said anything since Albus had introduced her and a few people were looking at him curiously.

"Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts." Said Remus, satisfying the people around him, "She's beautiful, may I hold her?"

Dumbledore gently passed him the baby, as all the people around them looked on with envy at getting to hold the daughter of the-boy-who-lived. Just then, the infant woke up. Remus looked down and was surprised at what he saw. Emerald green eyes, staring back at him.

"Albus, did you see this?" Remus asked, nodding towards the baby.

"Yes, I did notice that her eyes are exactly like her father's, and her grandmother's." Dumbledore replied, leaning back on the couch.

"That's strange, I thought babies eyes were blue right after birth." Remus said, smiling down at the fidgeting child in his arms.

"I've never known if that was true or not, but think about it Remus, her father and mother are some of the most powerful wizards in history. She's not going to be like most children." Dumbledore said. Remus nodded in understanding and returned his gaze to the baby.

"What's her name?" Remus asked

"I wasn't told. Have you seen Harry yet?" Albus asked, changing the subject.

"No." said Remus bitterly. Dumbledore looked up at Remus' harsh tone.

"Remus, don't tell me that you blame Harry for what happened to your son? You know it's not his fault. I don't even know if he knows." Dumbledore said, taking the baby back from Remus.

"It's hard not to. I know he didn't have any control over it, but I can't help but feel that if it wasn't for Harry, my son would still be alive." Replied Lupin.

"No, Remus. If it wasn't for Harry, we'd all be dead."

With those last words to Remus, he got up and walked down the same hallway that Remus had come from only minutes before. Most likely to bring the baby back to her parents.

Remus leaned back in the couch and closed his eyes, trying to ignore all the people around him talking about 'how cute the Potter baby was' and 'how lucky she was to have such great parents'.

- - - - -

Hermione was thinking hard. She just couldn't think of any middle names. She still felt really bad about suggesting Lily for a name and that might have been distracting her from picking a middle name.

Harry had fallen asleep about 5 minutes ago, exhausted from his entire ordeal. Hermione smiled as she looked at Harry's sleeping form next to her on the magically enlarged bed. She was so happy that Harry was back, after all this time of not even knowing if Harry was alive. She didn't know how long it was that she sat there, just watching him, until she was brought out of her thoughts by a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." She tried to whisper without waking her husband. The door opened and Hermione was greeted with a most wonderful sight. Albus was standing in the doorway, holding a bundle that Hermione was sure was her baby. She motioned for Albus to sit down in the chair next to her bed that Harry had sat in originally.

"Thank you, Albus, for taking care of Elizabeth." Hermione said, taking her from her former teacher.

"No, thank you, she was most delightful," Dumbledore said, "Elizabeth? You've chosen a name?"

"Well, Harry did." Hermione said, gesturing to her sleeping husband.

"How is he? I haven't spoken to him yet." Dumbledore said, peering past her to look at Harry for a moment before returning his gaze to Hermione.

"I don't know what went on when he was gone, but whatever it is, he's taking it very well. Either that or he's just put up a mask." Replied Hermione.

"He was well taken care of for the past few months that he was gone, but I have no idea what went on before that."

"Shall I wake him?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, I think I have to talk to him for one moment before I let him get acquainted with his new daughter." Albus said, standing up and smoothing out his dark purple wizard's robes. Hermione nodded before reaching over to wake up Harry, just as he had done to her an hour earlier.

A string of incoherent mumbling accompanied the grumpy face that Hermione and Albus saw next. Both could not hold back their laughter at the look on Harry's face, of both anger at being woken up, and exhaustion.

"Harry, Albus is here." Hermione said, trying to justify why she disturbed him.

"I can see that." Harry finally said, before stretching.

"Harry, I'd like to have a word with you before you meet your daughter." Dumbledore said, extending his hand to help Harry out of the bed.

"She's here?" Harry said, looking around.

"Yes, Harry, but we can wait. I don't think Albus would take you away from me so soon unless it were very important." Hermione said.

"But..."

"Just go, Harry." Hermione said, laughing, "Just make sure you come back to me this time."

"I will, I promise."


	18. Even the Smallest Person can Change the ...

Chapter 18 – Even the Smallest Person can Change the Course of the Future

"So glad to see you back in one piece, Harry", Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm glad to be back, although I haven't really seen anyone yet. I still haven't seen Ron, Tonks, Remus, Hagrid, or anyone really." Said Harry, smiling.

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes disappeared and Harry could feel his smile fading.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I forgot that you don't know." Said Dumbledore, looking away as though he didn't plan on continuing.

"Don't know... what?" Harry asked fearfully.

"Harry, you might want to sit down" Dumbledore said softly, as if Harry were a small child. Harry sat down on the cold floor, and watched as Dumbledore brought himself to kneel at Harry's level. He put his hand on Harry's shoulder before speaking the words that Harry never wanted to hear for the rest of his life...

"Hagrid's dead."

- - - - -

Hermione was sitting in her bed, rocking Elizabeth gently back and forth, desperately trying to think of a middle name for her. She was staring in wonder at her child's bright green eyes when she heard a scream of anguish and complete sorrow come from the hall. Surprisingly, the disturbance in the quiet did not startle the baby, but Hermione was sure that her heart had stopped beating.

Stopping to make sure that Elizabeth was safely tucked away in her bassinet, Hermione cautiously entered the hallway.

Harry was on his knees in the hall, tears streaming down his face for the first time in months. A group of people was standing near him. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had heard Harry's blood-curdling scream. She saw Dumbledore next to Harry, whispering words of comfort that she couldn't hear.

"Albus?" she asked nervously, silently inquiring at the state of her husband.

"He'll be fine." Dumbledore replied quietly.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, crossing the short distance to sit at her husband's side.

"I told him about Hagrid." Dumbledore said, as Hermione began slowly rubbing circles on Harry's back to comfort him as he sobbed quietly.

"I fear I may do more damage, as that isn't what I needed to tell him." Albus said.

"What did you need to talk to him about?" Hermione asked, embracing Harry.

"Perhaps it would be better if I waited until he has calmed down before I add something new to this mess," said Albus, looking up at the people around him, "Thank you for your concern, but I believe we have this under control now."

The few people there nodded or shrugged and then walked away.

Harry, in the midst of calming down, removed his glasses and rubbed his face, embarrassed about his emotional breakdown in the hallway. Dumbledore, knowing that he was no longer needed, quietly slipped away, unnoticed by either Harry or Hermione.

"I can't believe he's dead, 'Mione..." Harry said, burying his face into her shoulder.

"Did you know?" Harry asked, looking up at her. She nodded and he looked slightly betrayed.

"How?" he asked, voice barely audible.

"It happened a few months ago, while you were... gone. Right before we came here." Hermione said, trying to not relive the pain.

"Remus was with him at the time, but no one else saw what happened," she said, leaning back against the hard stone wall and pulling her knees to her chest.

"Maybe I should ask Remus." Harry said, noticing her discomfort.

"No, no, don't do that. He's just started forgiving himself. I'll tell you." Hermione said, as Harry moved himself to sit next to Hermione, squeezing her close to him.

"It was about four months ago..."

Flashback

Hermione was sitting in her house, thee one she had lived in for so long with Harry. She was sitting in his favorite chair. The old brown leather one with the many rips and holes that she had begged him to get rid of, or at least fix the holes.

"The holes make it more comfortable," he had said with a grin, "I like them."

She clutched her stomach, and cried. Everyone had given up that Harry was dead, but not her, not yet. Just as she wiped her eyes and got up to go to the kitchen, she sensed that someone had gotten past the wards Harry had set up long ago.

Grabbing the nearest heavy object she could find, she cautiously walked towards the library, the only room in the house with a fireplace.

She jumped into the doorway of the library with a yell that would have made her burst out laughing if the situation had been less serious. When she saw what was there, she let out a sigh of relief and lowered her weapon.

"Remus?"

Lupin looked from his spot on the floor at the sound of Hermione's voice.

"Hermione? Why do you have a rolling pin?" Remus asked with confusion. Hermione looked at her 'weapon' and laughed.

"I thought there was an intruder." She said defensively, tossing the rolling pin on the nearby chair.

"So... you were going to ... bake him... to death?" Remus asked, eyes still red from the recent sorrow that had brought him here in the first place.

"Don't make jokes, I was scared. Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here? Dumbledore said he would send an Order member incase of emer... wait, is something wrong? Is it Harry?" Hermione asked, sinking into the chair where her 'weapon' lay forgotten.

Remus came over to sit in the chair across from Hermione's. He put his face in his hands, overcome with grief. Hermione, full of concern for her old professor, reached over and put a hand on Remus' knee, to relax him.

"Professor, please tell me what's going on." Hermione said, calling him professor to make him answer her.

"There were too many. I couldn't ... There was nothing I could do." He said, looking up.

"Too many what, Remus? You are scaring me." Hermione said with fear in her voice.

"It was an ambush. I was there, with him in Diagon Alley. Looking for Harry. They just came out, and they ... they killed him, Mione. They just killed him. Right there!" Remus said; face falling back to his hands. Hermione had become more and more nervous as he had continued and was afraid to ask who.

"Remus, tell me, who was killed?"

"Hagrid. They just killed him. Right there. Just killed him." He repeated, over and over.

Hermione sat there, numb, absorbing the news that one of her favorite professors and friends, was dead.

End Flashback

"Because of me?" Harry asked, sounding the worst she had ever heard, "He died because he was looking for me? This is all my fault."

"Hagrid's death is no one's fault except Voldemort's." Hermione said. They sat in silence for the longest time until Harry broke it with a smile.

"A rolling pin, Mione?"

- - - - -

"You know something."

Silence.

"I know you know something. Just tell me. I can handle it. Harry thinks that everyone he touches dies, but no... it's me. I can handle it." Remus said.

"You were right about her eyes, Remus. There is something special about her. It has occurred to me that we may not have been correct, about Harry." Dumbledore said. He was still feeling badly about having to be the one to tell Harry that Hagrid had died, and he still hadn't told him about Ron.

"What do you mean, Albus?" Remus asked.

"Well, I don't mean that he has no part to play in the destruction of Voldemort, but that his daughter may play a bigger part than we previously expected." Dumbledore said, the tips of his long fingers pressed together.

"What do you mean by that? Is something going to happen to the child?" Remus said, unable to say her name, fearful that the name would come out bitterly.

Dumbledore turned to the werewolf, a small smile on his face, "I do not pretend to be a master at Divination. That, is Professor Trelawney's area of expertise. But no, I do not believe that anything unfortunate will happen to Elizabeth."

There was a pause, where both used the interesting view of the floor as an excuse to not say what was on their minds.

"Have you spoken to Harry at all?" Albus said, removing his glasses for a moment to clean a spot on them.

"I've told you this before, Albus. I don't feel comfortable talking to Harry right now." Remus said stiffly.

"I will not judge you. Only warn you that bitterness and contempt are what lead to hate. And hate is exactly what we are fighting. Be careful, Remus." Dumbledore said, before standing and leaving the room. Remus sat alone for at least half an hour. His mind was going through all the crazy ideas he could possibly think of to save his son's life, but none were reasonable. Most included storming Hogwarts Castle and demanding that the Death Eaters release Ewan, but those ideas always ended with Remus dying a horrible death. And he wasn't any help to the Order dead. For now, he would just have to deal with controlling his anger towards Harry, and surviving day by day.

A gentle touch on the shoulder startled Remus out of his thoughts. Hermione had left the sanctuary of her room, leaving Harry and Elizabeth a few minutes to bond, and was now sitting next to Lupin on the couch.

"Harry's back." She said simply.

"I know."

"You don't seem happy." Hermione said, frowning slightly.

"I've got other things on my mind, sorry." Lupin said, crossing his arms, and leaning back into the soft fabric of the couch. He felt bad about speaking so angrily about Hermione, but that was how he felt.

"Tell me about it?" Hermione asked, hoping that she could help her former professor feel better. Remus sighed, giving up and falling back into the memories.

"While Harry was gone, the Order placed a spy in the midst of the Death eaters. Basically, to protect Harry and find out the weak spots in the system so we could get Harry back." Remus began, "That spy... was my son."

Hermione gasped at the news. She had never known that Lupin had been involved with anyone, let alone that he had had children.

"I never knew you were married, Remus." Hermione said, unknowingly causing Remus to flinch at the memory of his late wife.

"Yes, I was. But unfortunately, she passed away about 7 years ago." He said softly.

"Oh, Remus. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Said Hermione, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"It's alright, Mione." He said, "There's more though."

"Okay. Go ahead." Hermione said, nodding.

"Well, Ewan – that's my son – spent the last couple months in direct contact with Harry. And just the other day he found out that Harry was supposed to be sacrificed. So just today, when the team of Aurors infiltrated Hogwarts, Ewan took some Polyjuice Potion with one of Harry's hairs in it. He's taking Harry's place in the sacrificial ceremony and he's going to be killed."

Hermione had held her breath through the last part of Lupin's story. Sadness overwhelmed her, and she didn't know what to do.

"I don't know what to say, Remus. Is there nothing that can be done? They can't save him? I'm sure Dumbledore could think of something." She said.

"No," Remus said, shaking his head, "I've been talking to Dumbledore and there is no possible way to save him."

"That can't be possible." Hermione said, scooting over to sit closer to Remus. After a pause, she asked, "What was her name?"

"Whose name?" Remus asked, not really paying attention anymore.

"Your wife's." she said quietly.

"Rhoswen." He said with a happy sigh, remembering his beautiful wife who had accepted him, even after she had found out that he was a werewolf.

"That's a beautiful name." Hermione said, smiling. She sat there, imagining what this woman must have looked like, until a light bulb went off in her head.

"Remus! I have a brilliant idea!"


	19. What Does Your Heart Tell You?

Chapter 19 – What does your heart tell you?

Hermione was proud of herself.

Without anyone's help, including Harry's, she had come up with a plan to save Ewan. And managed to come up with a middle name for Elizabeth in the process. She wasn't the brightest witch of her year for nothing, after all.

Her plan was brilliant. It wasn't fool-proof, but Hermione had thought of almost every scenario possible, nothing seemed too difficult to get out of. She only had to talk to Albus and pray he had what she needed, and would give it to her. She couldn't tell Harry. He would be against it 110, that was for sure.

Could she really risk her daughter's life like that? Did she have it in her to sacrifice her daughter to defeat the Dark Lord? She had to, she had no choice.

- - - - - -

(A/N: This scene takes place at the same time as the scene with Remus and Hermione in the previous chapter.)

'Are babies supposed to sleep that long?' Harry thought. Hermione had left on a walk for who-knows-what and Harry had decided to stay back with Elizabeth. She had slept the entire time Hermione had been gone, plus the entire time they had been in the hallway. About an hour, total.

'I must be over-reacting' Harry thought, sitting down on the bed with Elizabeth in his arms.

"Come on, wake up." He said gently, not expecting a response and not really trying to wake her up, "I just want to meet you and see those green eyes I've heard so much about."

To his surprise, he felt her stir in his arms and wake up.

"What's all this about, then?" he whispered, smiling, "Can read minds, can you?"

Elizabeth wiggled a bit in response and Harry's smile widened.

"Well we'll just have to put that as number 1 on the list of your amazing abilities." He said, leaning in close to her to place a small kiss on her nose.

- - - - - -

"What are you basing this on? Not my theory, I hope."

"Yes. After all the years I've known you, I've never known you to be wrong." Hermione said, trying to convince Dumbledore to let her act on her plan.

"I've made mistakes before," Dumbledore said quietly, thinking of when he had waited and not told Harry the truth until his 5th year, "I will not let you risk the life of your daughter and possibly yours, just because of a theory I have that is most likely wrong!"

Hermione sighed in annoyance.

"You don't have to worry about me." Hermione said, "I know my plan will work."

Dumbledore sighed also, knowing he could not convince Hermione to not do it. He turned his back to her, facing a shelf with different potions. He searched for a moment, then grabbed a vial that had a lumpy white potion. He handed her the vial with a grim smile.

"Five hours." He said.

- - - - - -

'A space 6ft by 11ft is not enough room for fourteen Aurors and a captured Death Eater' Ron thought, looking around. The Aurors and the Death Eater were all settled in a hallway under some stairs. Just moments ago, they had been running down the hallway, trying to outrun about two dozen death-eaters shouting hexes and curses. The one captured Death Eater had been gagged, to prevent him from calling out and revealing their position.

Every Auror held their breath as the sound of thundering feet approached, then a few stopped right in front of their hiding place.

''Quelle chemin vont-ils?" Ron heard one deatheater say.

"French?" an Auror near him whispered and Ron waved his hand to shush him.

"Je ne sais pas." A second voice said, a female, "Vous allez de cette façon, je trouverez ces Aurors."

Ron put his finger to his lips to indicate to the others not to move or make a sound.

"Venez ici." Ron heard a soft female voice whisper. He felt himself become dizzy and his vision was cloudy.

"Venez ici." The voice continued saying in a warm comforting voice.

Ron felt himself starting to stand up and head towards the door. He noticed others doing this too. One of the female Aurors grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him down, along with a few others.

Slowly, Ron began to come back to reality as the voice faded away. He waited until he heard the light footsteps of the female deatheater, Anne, before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for that." Ron said to the female Auror.

"No problem. Must have been part Veela or something." She said, smiling.

"Alright everybody. That was a close call but we can do this." Ron said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He looked at the band of Aurors around him. Some were bleeding badly and one was unconscious. At the sigh of this fallen comrade, Ron sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a gold ring with a lightning bolt etched on it.

Leaning over, he handed the ring to Anne, who was taking care of Jacques, the unconscious Auror. She took it hesitantly with a quizzical look on her face.

"Put it on his finger." Harry said, "Harry gave this to me, so long ago. It's incase of emergencies. It will transport him and you to the safest place, basically to Dumbledore."

"You're giving this away?" she asked in amazement.

"I don't need it." Ron said, his ears turning red. He stared down at his feet, "Plus, it's what Harry would do."

She nodded, then picked up her friend's limp hand, fitting the ring on his finger. The ring glowed blue, then disappeared along with Jacques and Anne.

"We could have used him if he woke up," an Auror said quietly, "He speaks fluent French."

"It's better this way. If we have to run, we won't have to worry about someone carrying him," Ron said, taking out his wand, "Scourgify."

He watched as the blood disappeared from the concrete. The Auror gulped but otherwise didn't look effected.

Ron looked at the frightened group of people around him and slowly stood. A thought flashed through his head, '13 people… first to rise is the first to die.' He quickly brushed that thought off and looked to his company. They were all standing, a few were still struggling, but all had a look of fierce determination.

"Let's go home." He said, heading out.

- - - - - -

Hermione paused outside the door to the room she now shared with Harry. She could hear him singing softly, to their daughter, she assumed. She took a deep breath, hoping she was brave enough to lie to Harry, and to have him believe her.

Slowly she pushed open the door, trying to not make a sound. Harry hadn't noticed her, and was still singing to Elizabeth, so she cleared her throat to get his attention. Harry immediately stopped singing and blushed.

"Have fun?" he said after regaining composure.

"I guess you could say that." Hermione said. She was trying desperately to not give anything away. If she did, it could and would destroy her plan, entirely.

"What did you do?" he asked, standing to put Elizabeth back in her crib, then sitting again.

"Oh nothing. Walked around a bit, talked to some of the others, saw Dumbledore."

Harry looked up when Hermione mentioned Dumbledore.

"What about?" he asked casually.

"This, that, and the other thing." She replied, moving to sit next to him on the bed.

Harry could tell she was lying but decided not to say anything. Hermione leaned in towards him, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes, relaxing, and quickly fell asleep; the rise and fall of Harry's chest and his rhythmic heartbeat comforting her.

- - - - - -

Albus was worried.

After Hermione had come to him with her plan, he had felt compelled to tell Harry. But she had made him promise not to. He did need to talk to someone, so he left his cramped office in search of Remus.

- - - - - -

SMASH

An intricate vase smashed against the wall, the noise echoing in the chambers. Not able to control his anger and sadness, Remus had started throwing prized possessions, starting with a glass figurine that his wife had loved. The reality of all he had just done caught up to him and he fell to his knees. He reached down and picked up the only whole piece of his wife's glass angel, and closed his hands over it.

A knock on the door.

Frantically Remus tried to clean up, his wand lie forgotten on the floor.

The door pushed open and Albus walked in, robe covering his feet.

"A-Albus, what a s-surprise." Remus said from the floor, trying to smile.

Dumbledore frowned, seeing Remus' tear-stained face and the assortment of broken pottery on the floor.

"I had come to talk to you about something, but right now I want to talk to you about you. Come with me". Dumbledore left the room, not even looking back as Remus slowly got to his feet and followed.

"This really isn't necessary Albus."

"Oh, but I assure you, it is. How can you be expected to assist the Order if you are not of sound mind?" Dumbledore replied

"It's nothing, seriously." Remus said as he shuffled down the hallway.

"My dear friend," Dumbledore said, stopping to turn around and face Remus, "I have known you long enough to know that it's more than nothing. Come, talk with me."

Remus sighed in defeat and continued walking after his long time friend and mentor.

- - - - - -

Harry and Hermione were both awake, having woken with five minutes of the other. They were lounging quietly, just enjoying the comfortable silence.

"You know I love you, right Harry?" Hermione said after awhile.

He turned to look at her, surprised, "Of course I know that, and I love you, too. But Mione… you are scaring me. You sound like you are saying your good-byes or something."

Hermione didn't answer.

'Maybe I am, Harry,' she thought, 'Maybe I am.'

- - - - - -A/N: I apologize for the long delay. I could give you a long list of excuses... or I could finish editing this and post it. I choose the second one. Just so you know:

Which way did they go?

I don't know. You go this way, I'll find the Aurors.

Come here.


	20. What to do With the Time that is Given

Chapter - 19

Snape walked quickly and purposefully through the dark and damp corridor. He clutched something to him, a bundle. He paused for a moment outside of the door and glanced down at the green-eyed infant in his arms. Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear his mind of any bit of knowledge he didn't want Voldemort to know.

The door opened – by itself, it seemed – and Snape entered the room, bringing to his face a look of utter disgust at the child now whimpering in his arms.

"What is it this time Snape? You haven't brought me any valuable information in months, yet you still show your face?"

Snape did his best to avoid the red eyes glaring at him from behind the snake-like slits.

"My Lord," he said, bowing slightly, "I have brought you Potter's child."

Severus suppressed a shudder as Voldemort began to chuckle.

"Snape, you seem to have out-done yourself. I don't think you even realize what a find this is." Voldemort snapped his fingers and a Death Eater came from behind him and took the child from Snape.

Snape prayed that Hermione's plan would work and he wasn't sending an innocent child to its death.

- - - - -

Ron was running down the hallway. He could hear the other Aurors shouting curses and hexes as they ran but for some unknown reason, he just couldn't run and cast spells at the same time. They were being chased by the group of Death Eaters who had found them as they wandered around the castle. They had gotten lost, and awareness had waned. They hadn't realized that they were being followed until some clumsy person behind them had tripped over something and that had alerted the Aurors to the Death Eater's presence.

"Expelliarmus!"

The shout of an Auror directly behind him brought Ron out of his zombie-like state. He turned his head a little just in time to see a jet of blue burst past him.

"Watch out, Ron! That was close!" Someone near him shouted.

Ron felt like he was back in Hogwarts, playing Quidditch and he had almost gotten hit with a bludger. He had to shake his head to remind himself that this wasn't a game, it was life.

Ron reached up and wiped the sweat that was already dripping down his face. They would have to find somewhere to hide soon; or else they would all become tired and would be too weak to face any foe that came at them. A door on his right attracted his attention and Ron tried to signal to the others to run in there, but none of them saw. For some reason, Ron thought it felt like a safe place to hide. He turned the door's handle and fell into the room in his urgency to hide, only to see a flash of green light and then nothing but black.

- - - - -

"Albus, have you seen Severus?" Remus was looking anxious as the hour quickly approached midnight. He had been hoping to find Snape so that he could give him some type of calming potion, but hadn't seen him since they'd arrived, and then only for a brief moment.

"I did see him, but he was on his way out, I believe." Dumbledore hoped that his vague explanation would be enough to satisfy Remus and he wouldn't have to divulge Hermione's plan while it was just beginning.

"On his way out? Albus, we're supposed to be in hiding, how can anyone 'be on their way out'?" Lupin looked at Albus, incredulously.

"Do you think I'm that daft? As to just let someone go wandering off unaccompanied? No, he had something to do. In fact, I gave him the permission to go." Dumbledore said.

Remus looked down at the ground, a shameful look on his face. He had not meant to undermined Albus' authority or state of mind; he had just been worried for his former enemy. Plus, if Snape were somehow captured, their hiding place would be revealed.

"Besides…" Remus looked up as Dumbledore continued talking, "This is Severus that we're talking about. I don't think it's likely that he went out for something frivolous. I'm sure what he had to do was very important, and that he won't be out wandering about in broad daylight."

The werewolf nodded in agreement, wondering why he had ever thought that Snape couldn't handle himself.

"Do you know where he went, Albus?" Remus asked, curiously.

"Indeed, I do. But by request of another person, I have promised to keep it secret, particularly from you and Harry." Dumbledore said. He was smiling, but his eyes lacked a certain warmth and twinkle that Remus had always found comforting in his times of need.

"I understand, Albus. Very well then, perhaps you can help me out then. I'm in quite the predicament. You see, I am in need of a potion…"

- - - - -

All the Death Eaters were gathered around. Voldemort had called a meeting in response to this new and welcomed piece of the puzzle. The infant lay on a small rounded table in the center of the Ring of Death Eaters. There were no blankets wrapping the child, and so the cold air of the dungeons was free to reach her skin. The faithful Death Eaters that had assembled could clearly see the child's resemblance to her father; the unruly hair, the green eyes, it all fit.

"I have called you all here today because something unexpected has happened. There will be a change of plans. Instead of a sacrificing Harry Potter…" there was a pause as a few of the newer and more rebellious Death Eaters gasped, "We will be sacrificing his daughter."

Snape tried to maintain his grim expression behind his mask, knowing full well that even though his face was hidden, the Dark Lord would notice any change in emotion. Voldemort continued on with his speech, as Snape had hoped – and planned – that he would. This would give them more time; time that they so desperately needed.

"I have learned from my most trusted Death Eater and Double-Agent Spy that this child here, has greater powers than even those of her father. Her parentage, no doubt, lends a hand in that." Voldemort fumed at the thought that a mudblood had contributed in producing a child with such powers as these, "I will be sacrificing her instead, as that will bring me even greater power. And since her father does not know of her existence yet, we will not have to worry about any pesky charms that destroy me and deplete my ranks."

A few people laughed, mostly out of nervousness, others because this seemed like the time where if you didn't laugh, you'd get Avada Kedavra'd.

'That's right, keep on talking' Snape thought. He wanted to look at his watch, to know how much time they had left, but had to resist.

"Snape!" Voldemort turned to address Snape and he felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead out of nervousness.

"Yes, master?" Severus bowed and rose again, not daring to look Voldemort in the eye.

"I want you to take this … child, since it seems to be most familiar with you. I don't want to have to listen to that racket if it starts crying again. Keep it quiet." Voldemort gestured towards the table.

"Yes, sir." Snape gladly took his chance to leave the meeting room and went over to the middle of the room to pick up Elizabeth. He quickly left and breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going according to plan.

- - - - -

Dumbledore looked up as a small red light lit up on the wall in front of him. It was the board that he used to keep track of all the Aurors, and it only lit up if one of them fell. This could not be good. Albus stood up and walked to the wall where each of the Aurors had their own red light just below their picture. One red light was lit, but he already knew about that one. The Auror hadn't lasted long after he'd come back to the hideout. Jacques had been so ill that it had been hard for him even to travel back and Dumbledore had allowed his partner a reprieve from the rest of the mission in order to grieve. Anne had been quite upset to learn of his death.

But now another red light was glowing as well, a new one. Dumbledore followed the red light up until his eyes rested on the picture to whom the light belonged to.

"No… it couldn't be…" For some reason, Albus' eyes had decided now was a good time to play a trick on him. Because what he was seeing surely couldn't be true. But it had to be, magic didn't lie.

"Ron is dead."

There was a collective gasp throughout the room and Dumbledore cursed himself in that moment. He had forgotten that he was not alone in the room he had created for solitude, but in the end found it too lonely to stay in alone. A few unknown faces were just shocked at the fact that there had been another death. Dumbledore looked around until he found the face that he knew was there. Harry.

"Harry…" Dumbledore said quietly, as if approaching a wild animal, "Harry, you just have to stay calm about this. I know you are going to be upset, but there are children here."

Harry looked far from angry. Tears were forming in his brilliant green eyes and Dumbledore could see that in a few years, Harry would have worry lines that would far outnumber his own.

"Ron… is dead? How can that be? It just can't be." Harry said, then he laughed, "No, no, Ron isn't dead. It's just some joke he's playing. He'll be back."

Harry leaned back in his chair, relaxing, but his face still was tense and showed a look of extreme haggardness. Then all of a sudden he got up and looked around wearily before he said, "I'm going to go to… I'm going… Oh hell, I'm just going."

And with that he left.

- - - - -

Snape settled the child in a makeshift bassinet that he had found in the corner of the room, probably left over from some other infant sacrifice. There were blankets in this one, so the chill was quickly chased away and the baby looked up at him and smiled. Snape, away from the confines of the Death Eater meeting, smiled back before glancing at his watch. There were only 3 more minutes left; they had exited just in time. Snape took a seat in a chair directly across from where the baby lay, watching her.

Now there was only a minute to go. He wouldn't have long to wait now, and then the second part of the plan could begin. He prayed that everything would work like it was supposed to. It was a very … interesting plan, and he wasn't sure that Hermione had been thinking straight when she had come up with it. He didn't doubt that she was brilliant, maybe even up there with Dumbledore and the others of his skill and wisdom, but she had just given birth, been reunited with her husband and then had to deal with tremendous stress, all within 24 hours.

30 seconds left.

10… 9 … He could see the child transforming in front of his eyes

7 … her hair was growing longer and fuller

6 … she was growing taller and now longer fit in the bassinet

3 … her eyes changed from the bright green he had grown accustomed to, to a chocolate brown

1 … and finally, before his very eyes, Elizabeth Potter had transformed into … Hermione Gra- Potter.

"It's nice of you to join us." Snape said, once Hermione had recovered from the transformation.

"'Us', Professor? Since when do you refer to yourself as two people?" Hermione said, smiling and then she grew more solemn, "Thank You, Professor. I couldn't have done this without you. I'll still need your help, you know. You are the only one who knows your way around here."

"Hermione, you are no longer a student and I am no longer your professor. You can call me Severus… or Snape if you must."

Hermione nodded, and Snape gestured to a pile of black robes sitting on a table that he had gotten for her use. Hermione put them on, and after putting on Snape's Death Eater mask to test out the outfit, looked completely disguised. They were ready for Part 2.

- - - - -

Part of Dumbledore's 'Status Board' for the Aurors was a body recovery system. The wizard who had helped him create the spell in the first place had suggested it, but Dumbledore found it to be rather morbid. But this time it seemed to come in handy.

Ron's body had traveled back to the hideout without damage and he now lay in the newly made infirmary. His clothes had been changed and as he lay on the bed, he looked as though he were simply sleeping. Nobody was allowed in to see him yet, as Dumbledore wasn't sure what had killed him, and didn't know what would happen if he came into contact with other people. But Harry couldn't just sit there and not see his best friend.

So he did what he always did… snuck out. After hearing from Dumbledore that Elizabeth was safe with Remus – Harry had found this to be quite a shock as Lupin had seemed a bit reluctant to come in contact with either of them – he grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and walked to the Infirmary.

Kneeling by Ron's bed, he reached out to take his friend's hand. Frighteningly enough, Ron's hand was still slightly warm, although Harry knew that was just because he had been killed recently. Ron's skin seemed normal color and nothing about him seemed odd. So Harry found himself in a state of denial, thinking that there was no way that his friend could be dead. And so he stayed like that for hours, looking Ron over trying to find some sign of life, before his resolve finally crumbled and he began sobbing over Ron's dead body.

"Oh God, Ron. You just can't be dead. You have to wake up. Wake up!" Harry found himself shaking Ron's shoulders, "Ron you can't leave me here alone!"

Harry sobbed uncontrollably, and his tears fell onto the pillow that supported Ron's neck.

"Please… please… I can't take this any more. I can't take any more deaths." Harry prayed to whoever would listen that this was all a dream and that Ron would wake up. But somewhere, deep inside, he knew that Ron would never wake up.


End file.
